The TV Business
by LC 86
Summary: Two of FOX's brightest up-and-coming stars, Rachel Berry and Finn Hudson, are fresh out of drama school and learning the ropes of the industry they now call their own. If only they can keep their own lives in check too?
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note:** I have literally been toying around with the concept behind this story since Fall of 2010 and now, with our dramatic cliffhanger, I finally have the ambition and courage to send it out there. All the actors mentioned here are real people, so if you haven't hear of them, Google them. This is a real labor of love (and I know it's long), but please read and respond. As many have said, reviews are love.

**A/N 2:** This chapter was edited a little but for some typo clarification.

**A/N 2: **I found out the I spelled Lili Taylor's name wrong, and I felt bad, so I corrected it. I also edited this chapter for some minor typos.

**Disclaimer: **If I owned _Glee_, there would be several _Popular_ references in the episode airing tomorrow. (Who knows, there might be…)

* * *

He fiddles with his tie. He's running late. Kurt insisted on him dressing very professional and classy, but it doesn't matter because his flight still came into LaGuardia forty minutes late and then he was stuck in stupid rush-hour traffic for another forty-five and now he's late. And sweaty and out-of-breath because he's late. _And_ maybe a little because he's nervous.

See, today is the first day of the rest of his life. He had heard that expression before, but it didn't really make sense until two days ago when he got the call. The call that the job actually went through. And he had to fly out to New York to show everyone what he had done. (Well, him and his coworkers.)

He was supposed to arrive in plenty of time to get to his hotel and change. He was told that his bosses made sure there would be a room available for his use before check-in. So that he could drop-off his stuff, take a shower, change, and mentally prepare himself for the whirlwind ahead of him (which was, like, the most important part). In reality, after three different people at the front desk had to consult before giving him his room key, he had about 25 minutes to get all of that done (not even being able to do the last part) and get to the press line.

Yep, press line. Because he was going to the Fox Upfronts. Because his show was picked up by the network. And he was now a real, working member of society. Right out of college and everything. He still couldn't even believe it. The only people who knew were Kurt, his Mom, and Burt. But in a few minutes, the whole world (or, well, at least people who care about what TV shows will be starting in the fall) will know. When this all started, he didn't really think too much of it; even though he loved the script. He approached it like all other parts, like those at his now, _Alma Matter._

He thought it would be a long shot, but when he got into DePaul University, he had to go. It was a good school – the best one he had applied to – but he also realized that it looked good to have a congressman's step-son attending your institution of high education. But, once he got there, he wasn't sure what to…_do_. The theater program enticed his interest. Little did he know that four years later, and one trip to LA to visit his brother at his internship, he would have an agent, a resume, and a real-life job!

He gets to the _blue_ carpet late and most of the reporters and crew have started to coil up wires and gather their belongings. Only the FOX-hired photographer takes a quick snapshot of him in his snazzy suit before he's ushered in to the theater. He had to stand in the back because, even with his viewing advantage, he can't see any empty seats.

He's still wrapping his brain around all that is happening today when he feels _it._

Feels _her_.

She's there. _Here._

The elastic pulling from him to her. Their _tether_.

* * *

She's excited! Really excited! She even splurged and bought a fancy new dress at a fancy downtown boutique to celebrate. But, is it really a splurge when you're actually making enough money to afford the dress, your groceries, and rent? She wasn't sure. Either way she is excited. Like literally jumping up and down in her living room excited. She can't stop glowing.

She got a job today!

A real job as a **paid** actor!

The call came though and her heart was pounding so fast. This was really happening! She immediately called Ezra, Patrick, and Lili. She was so excited to rave about the big news. Then she of course called her dads who were screaming over the phone, but promised not to say a word until after the event.

Gosh, she was shaking. This was the biggest thing that happened to her in her life. She was barely making ends meet once Kurt finished a semester early and moved out to LA to accept the job he was offered after his internship; leaving her with a bigger bill to pay every month towards rent. Yeah, it's nice not to having to share a _one_-bedroom apartment with another person, but finances were really tough for a while. Now she had a real income that wasn't dependent on coins left on sticky tables.

Her life at the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts was going well. She was graduating on time with a collection of lead performances, summer workshops, and bit parts in Off-Off Broadway shows under her belt. It was one of her said leads that got the attention of her, now, agent. He was a good guy who was trying her hardest to steer her in the right direction. The best example of this was her current employment.

Even though she was animate about becoming a star on _Broad-way_, he insisted that she just "read the script." She hated the fact that he knew she would want this part. That she could relate to this girl through and through. And although it was a sitcom, it was still the best dialogue and direction (hell, writing) she had read in months. And at least for this, it wasn't a cattle-call. When she saw the smiles as she left, she knew the role was hers, and the pilot being picked up as a series was just icing on the cake.

(Icing that she desperately needed because rent was due next week.)

The few days that followed passed in slow motion as she waiting for today. Upfront day! She wanted to get there early. (But not _too _early.) She constantly texted her costars to know their whereabouts so she was arriving right around the same time. She knew that was key to keeping the conversation about their show lively. She arrived on the tails or Lili and Peter, who were two of the recognizable actors with a new show on Fox's 2016-2017 season. The reporters politely questioned her as she gushed about working with two well-know actors on this buzzed-about program. She got her picture taken and soaked up every moment of posing on the Press Line. She knew it was the first of many.

She had taken her seat about 15 minutes ago. Purposely taking an isle as she saw in the program that the sitcoms were being presented first and she wanted to have easy, quick access when she was called on stage. The room was filling up quickly and soon they were hardly any empty seats left. Apparently there were lots of people who wanted to see what FOX had to offer for the Fall and this made her glad; as she was now part of that selection. She was getting restless as the lights grew dim and the voices fainted until there was silence. A man walks up to the podium and the projection screen starts to reel.

Then, she feels _it_. The wind shifts and the mood changes.

A pull is tugging at her; away from herself.

He's _here. _

But…he _can't_.

_Can he?_

* * *

_They had to start now without her. They would have lost their spot otherwise. Rachel didn't have a choice. And now she was walking down towards him and he really couldn't believe it. It was surreal._

_"Ladies and gentlemen we are gathered here today to celebrate the coming together of these two __**very**__ young people in matrimony."_

_Hearing the words from the judge made it all real. Was he really about to get...married? Had he actually proposed to Rachel? Was this actually...happening?_

_"The couple will be exchanging vows they..." the judge begins before trailing off as the first run of sirens roars down the street._

_He tries to being again, however a second, longer, stream of emergency vehicles passes. Continuing to halt their ceremony._

_Than the third, the longest group, went by; causing Puck to peak out to the window._

_"Quinn," he murmurs softly as he storms out of building; running down the street._

_The rest of their group rushes to the widow and sees the lights and trucks. It's only a few blocks away. And in the center of the commotion, Quinn's little Beetle. Mangled and distorted on what appears to be where she would have been sitting, but it's almost too hard tell._

_He runs out after him - chasing behind - trying desperately to catch him. He finally gets to Puck and grabs him from behind. Halting him in his tracks._

_"There's nothing you can do!" he yells, panting. Trying to get him to stop._

_"I have to go. I have to get her! I have... I have to..." Puck trails off as he collapses into Finn's body, tears in his eyes._

_The club (wedding party?) staggers outside and joins them as they view the devastation - mesmerized. There will be no ceremony today._

* * *

He sees her. She's sitting up straighter – her shoulders back, her knees tightly crossed over one another, her hands clutched together in her lap – as the preview plays. She's proud of her work and he knows it. He's proud of what he's done as well. Her show looks funny and has a cast of actors he recognizes. It's a family sitcom with a bit of an irreverent edge; which it what FOX is known for. (He looked that up on Wikipedia.) When they call the cast of stage, she looks so excited that she's dazed. He knows she doesn't see him. He also knows that she is looking for him; because she can feel it too. (And her head is whipping around looking for someone, so it's gotta be him, right?)

He can't help but smile watching her up there, so excited and eager as her and her cast mates discuss their show. He knows that he has a smile that belongs only to her. When he's with her or watching her perform. He's so happy for her and he knows she's happy for him as well.

After her cast disembarks for the stage, FOX introduces the rest of the new comedies and praises those that are coming back for the 2016-2017 season. Some of the shows look good, but none of them are as special as her show _Parents and Children_.

Then they introduce their reality programming, discussing the rating juggernauts that are _American Idol_ and _The X Factor_. The Drama category is the last one remaining, and finally, she sees him. God, he looks _good._

His show is about cocaine use in upper-class LA and it's called _The Sands_. He looks magnificent up there and in par with his stellar cast. When he walks from the very back of the theater, holding up the caboose of his cast, he gently taps her arm ass he looks up at him. He looks at home with coworkers who are just as impressive as hers. The other two leads in the program are the little girl from _Mad Men_ and the guy who played Joe in _Empire Records_.

* * *

He could see her on the opposite side of the after party tent mulling of the food selection at the table. There seemed to more food to her liking at the table near him, so he grabbed a plate and filled it up, eventually making his way over to her.

"Hi," he starts, not really sure how to process...everything.

"Hi," she replies with a warm smile.

"I got you some food from the other table. They had more vegan-friendly options over there."

"Thank-you," she says sweetly as she looks down at the hummus, pita chips, and fruit. "I got some items for you as well."

He smiles and opens his mouth to speak when he hears someone yell out "Rachel!" from behind him.

She quickly switches their plates as Kevin Riley walks up to them with a bright smile. "I see two of our brightest newcomers are meeting each other."

"Oh, yes!" Rachel replies sprightly, extending her right hand. "I'm Rachel Berry."

"Finn Hudson," he responds taking her hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise."

"Well, Finn," Kevin interrupts, "There are some people I would like for you to meet if you don't mind."

"Not at all," Finn responds. Honestly, he_ did_ mind. There was a lot to be said. But he wasn't about to piss off his new boss. "Goodbye," he says to Rachel before heading off with Kevin, who has his around Finn shoulder.

"Goodbye," Rachel replies before he walks off.

Lili comes up behind her as she watches him walk off. "He's cute," Lili retorts before grabbing some cheese and crackers.

Knowing there was a lot to be said, and not sure how to process it all, Rachel pulls out her phone.

_Want to meet tonight for dinner to talk_, she texts him.

_Yes. Will meet up when this thing is_ over, he responds.

* * *

They both spend a good few hours mingling with the several members of the FOX family they will now consider their colleagues. It was overwhelming and exciting. They also met the press and reviewers who will be critiquing their every move with their new programming becoming the talk of the town. But Rachel figured, if they want to meet them, it had to be a good thing, right?

They finally meet up after the crowd has winded, significantly, down and only a few others remain. They both smile awkwardly at one another. For some reason this feels weird. She doesn't know why. They talk on Facebook a lot and text each other when they see or hear something funny. They see each other whenever they are home at the same time and catch each other up on what they have missed. But for some reason it's different now. Probably because their whole lives will be different from now on.

"You wanna go get some food or something?" Finn asks in an uneasy tone.

"I'm not really hungry yet," she replies.

"Oh, well, I have a pretty nice hotel room if you wanna just hang out for a little while?" he suggests.

"Okay," she agrees. "Where are you staying?"

"The W Times Square." They start to walk out of the building and on to the street when he asks, "Do you want to get a cab?"

"No. It's not too far. We can walk from here," she explains.

They walk in totally silence as they navigate their way through the crowds to the hotel. They walk through the lobby unnoticed by others as they are still average people. She hopes someday soon they will have to walk through hotels in disguise using fake names on their reservations because they are so adored.

They enter an empty elevator and ride up to floor Finn marked off. Finn leads her down to his room and opens up the door. Once their inside… they can't help it… they have to let it out…

They both scream on the tops of their lungs.

"AHHHH!" They cheer as Rachel flounces up and starts jumping up and down on Finn's bed.

"How did this...How did this happen?" Finn asks flabbergasted, so excited and out of breath to carry on with more than that.

"My agent told me that I had to read this script and audition for this part. So I did, and I did, and now the show has been picked up and I'm here and I actually have a professional acting job!" She's bouncing up and down "How did this happen to you?"

"Well, as you know, I was able to meet that agent when I was in LA visiting Kurt last summer. Well, he knew I was graduating soon so he would have me do tapes for auditions. I got a callback for this one so I drove out to LA and now here I am!"

"Ahhh!" she cheers again as she jumps off the bed and into his arms.

Excited, he kisses her on the lips. And then the shift happens. The mode changes. They are NOT supposed to kiss. They are friends now. They are no longer dating. And even though the kiss wasn't sexy or romantic – more friendly and purely out of excitement – they both knew they were not to do that anymore. Especially now; after all that has happened.

They break apart and it's quiet. Awkward. "Ummmm…" he starts to say, as he sets her down onto the carpet.

"We're not supposed to do that," she says.

"No, we're not."

"Then it didn't happen." She's pushing her arms back and forth against her a-line skirt, almost in an effort to get this moment over with.

"It didn't happen," he repeats with a friendly grin. "So, tell me all about your show. It looks good."

"Oh, it is!" She bounces on to his bed to sit down; leaning against the pillows. He skirt fanning over her legs. He joins her, sitting toward the foot of the bed, his legs dangling off.

They spend the rest of the night just talking. Discussing their new employment and all the excitement that led up to it. They order room service and catch up. Just like they've done from time to time before. Just like old friends do.

They talk for a really long time and eventually they are both laying on top of the covers – heads against the pillows – eyelids no longer fighting the urge to stay open. They are lying side by side facing each other. She has her right hand on his shoulder. He has his left hand on her waist.

They are each in their own spaces. Their own individual bubbles. But the gentle touches connecting them are the osmosis drugs that drifts them both to slumber.

Feeling the sunlight on her eyes, Rachel realizes its morning. She opens her eyes and doesn't recognize anything around her. She's cold due to the lack of a blanket. Then she turns and sees him. His hand is on her waist as he starts to stir. He opens his eyes and she is staring back at him.

"Hi," he says with a grin.

"Hi," she repeats. She knows that grin. "I should really get going. I still have to wait tables for a little while before we start shooting in July."

She starts to rise when he grabs her waist and rolls them over. "I don't think so," his sly reply includes a mischievous grin as he hovers above her.

She smirks back as his hands caress the sides of her waist. God, it's a tempting offer, but she knows they can't. "Finn, I realize you're…um…_awake_, but we can't do that." Her hand pushes on his shoulder to move him farther away from her. "We can't."

He succumbs to her argument and rolls back over to the other side of the bed as she starts to sit upright. "I know," he moans. She looks back at him gratefully as he takes her hand. "But no one will know," he has puppy dog eyes as he gives his last plea.

She stands aside of the bed and snatches her hand back. "NO!"

"Fine!"

They both have smirks on their faces as she quietly leaves and heads down to the subway as the morning dew settles over the still-quiet city. When she gets to her stop, there's a little bustle, but not too much, and she worries about the walk of shame. Then she realizes that anyone who would care that she's partaking in the horrible tradition wouldn't be near.

* * *

He moves in with Kurt in early June. His show starts filming in a few weeks because they want to get a leg up on their costly production. Although Filming in LA is cheaper than New York (but more expensive than Canada he had learned), because the show was about the wealthiest of the wealthy, they needed to start filming early because of all the locations they were going to rent. He liked going to Malibu everyday and seeing hot chicks in bikinis during breaks on set, so he really didn't mind.

He did mind living with Kurt though. When they were with their parents it was different because they each had their own space and a mom cooking dinner every night. With Finn on Kurt's couch of his livable-for-one-person apartment, it's a bit crowded. Not as crowded as the Hummel basement fiasco, but Finn does end up banging some part of his body against the coffee table in-between the couch and the TV every night.

But luck dances to his side at the late-July TCA Press Tour. When Mike Chang magically appears as one of the new choreographers for reality juggernaut _So You Think You Can Dance_, Finn finds himself a new roommate. The boys find a livable two-bedroom with a big bathroom in a LA suburb not too far from both their jobs. He also hangs out with Sam and Mercedes a lot. They both came out here after graduation to make it as musicians. When Sam asked if he wanted to join his band as they were despite for a drummer who could keep up with the rest of his group musically, he jumped at the chance. It gave him an outlet outside the show. Mercedes seems to be doing better than her Ken doll former boyfriend though, as he heard she got a recording contract and is writing songs for an album. Mercedes apparently wants to be a black girls Adele. (But wouldn't that make her, like, ever other, far-superior-than-Adele African American female soul singer?)

He does also see Rachel at the TCA Upfronts, but she's only their briefly as her and her entire cast have to fly back to NYC the following day to film. She says this is just the beginning of the intense journey and he doesn't disagree. He does think she might be over exaggerating a bit, but that's Rachel.

He really likes working on his show. Kiernan is great and so is Anthony. One day one of the Producers jokingly said that cast could bring anything they wanted to set with them. Finn, knowing the man was joking, still took him up on his offer and showed up with his drum kit in the bed of his truck the following day. Impressed by his effort – and because he's aware it's hard for people to say 'no' to him when he flashes his dimples – they let him keep them there so he can practice his skills during their downtime.

Commercials for the show start airing and billboards start being posted all over town. FOX says the show is being buzzed about. TV Guide comes to interview Kiernan Shipka and Anthony LaPaglia because, you know, they've been on successful shows before. Kiernan talks about how she likes playing his little sister, because she always wanted a big brother. That makes him pretty happy. The show seems to get positive response from critics and there are high hopes from the network. He's a little nervous because he's such a big part of everything. What if they like the show, but don't like him? What if his performance is the one holding everyone else back? These questions, and a million similar ones, are thoughts that infiltrate his brain on a daily basis as they go about production waiting for the honest magazine reviews to come in.

* * *

On a hot summer night she hands in her apron and note pad. Her final table has just paid and she walks out of the restaurant; counting her tips. But then she realizes that she doesn't need to pinch pennies anymore. She has a real job which finally begins tomorrow morning. She saves a couple dollars for laundry and gives a one to a panhandler on the street as she walks down to the subway. Her new life begins tomorrow.

It's a delight to her to walk up to the doors at Silvercup and for security to just wave her through. She gives hugs to all her cast mates as they wait in the wings before they can walk on set. Set. The whole gambit is wonderful and grand, even when trying to depict an average Brooklyn apartment. She is also among the two lucky cast members who get to film at the picturesque Brooklyn College; where her character attends. Although she never got to have that idyllic college experience of historic buildings and grassy knolls where students read between classes while attending the uber-urban NAYDA, getting to experience it factiously on a real campus is close enough for her.

She films most of BC scenes are with Ezra. Ezra Miller. He's a cutie-patooie who knows Andrew McCarthy. He's already done a lot more professional acting than she has, but he doesn't treat her as less than anyone else. He's a really great person and his girlfriend is so sweet. Their storyline is that they are a high school couple trying to stay together now that they are in college. She could easily relate. It's a little different though because it's a sitcom and the hijinks she gets into with Patrick Gallagar and Lili Taylor, who play the parents.

She really likes the show though. Occasionally they film around other parts of Brooklyn too. And the show is funny. Really funny. She laughs reading nearly every script and can barely make it through some of the scenes. Her best friend on the show is played by Ariel Winter. Ariel has a lot more experience than her, so Rachel is still unsure why she took such a small part on the show. She assumes that it has to do with the fact that Ariel is also full-time at NYU, but either way, Ariel doesn't click too well with her. She doesn't let it get to her though, because everything else right now is so fabulous.

* * *

Both his show and Rachel's show – along with Seth McFarland's adaptation of _The Flintstones_ – were asked to represent FOX at a Question and Answer session presented by the Paley Center for the Arts. They are siting on opposite sides of the stage, but they can see each other clearly, and it's comforting to have a familiar face in this scary room of people.

The discussion begins with clips from all the shows and the woman conducting the panel takes the stage. There are a lot of questions about the new _Flintstones_ because it's premiering much later than originally anticipated, but much of that is to do with, as Mr. McFarland says, perfecting it and respecting the Hannah-Barbara classic. Then they ask a few questions to Rachel's cast, mainly to Patrick and Lili, about how this project differs from others they have done in the past.

"Now, Rachel, you're character is hysterical." The panel leader say, getting her attention.

"Thank-you," she says with a hint of blush.

"Now, you and Ezra's characters play probably the cutest young couple on TV right now. Do you rehearse your funny and adorable moments in-between scenes?"

"No, not really," Rachel replies to laughter from the audience.

"I rehearse our scenes _my_ girlfriend," Ezra interjects to even more laughter from the crowd.

"Love you too, Ezra," Rachel comments sarcastically. Even _more_ laughter.

"And you wonder why we get nothing done on this show," Patrick interrupts.

"But, in all seriousness—"Rachel tries to begin to more snickers. "No seriously," she finally regains control of the comments. "For me, the kids trying to keep their relationship together is probably the thing I can relate to most about my character. I had a really important relationship in high school and I'm still close with that person today."

Rachel looks over to him and he smiles. She smiles back.

"Speaking of intense high school relationships, Finn your character on _The Sands_ became a narcotics officer to avenge his girlfriend's overdose on cocaine," the panel leader comments.

"Yep," Finn responds.

"What's it like to play that?"

"Well, ya know, it's a little intense," Finn says to more snickers.

"Just a little."

"Just a little. That whole talking to graves thing is little strange. And now we've been filming some stuff that goes deeper into him and former girlfriend so it starts to make a little more sense. But, I mean, I definitely had a very intense relationship when I was _a little_ younger and it very much shaped me into the man I am today and it's something I will cherish forever. I understand how it's hard for him to get over it and how he's unsure whether he even should. So, that _is_ something I can understand about my character and relate to." He looks over to Rachel and they lock eyes for probably longer than they should. She looks down and blushes.

"We've also been filming some stuff that explains how…other factors contribute to Finn's character," Kiernan explains, snapping him out of his daze.

"Yes, definitely," Finn concurs.

"Now, Kiernan, how is this different than working on _Mad Men_?"

"Well, I'm allowed to watch an entire episode of this series, so, ya know, that's different." Laughter erupts again from the crowd. "And I really like how I play this character who is basically being raised by her big brother and that whole brother-sister relationship is something that is so different for me and what makes it so wonderful and exciting to come to work every day. I love getting to have a pusdo-big brother in Finn."

"Awww, I love having you as a fictional little sister Kiernan," Finn comments back.

"Thank-you."

"Do either of you have any siblings in real life?" The woman interviewing them asks.

"No," Kiernan replies.

"I have step brother," Finn responds. "We're really close, but we're also the same age, so it's very different than the relationship between our characters on the show."

The panel continues for a little while longer and the producers start to discuss getting East Cost early ratings for Rachel's new show. As they head out, dusk is settling in LA and he catches up with her.

"How long are you in LA for," he asks. No need for pleasantries.

"Just until tomorrow unfortunately. It sucks we just flew in last night, did press all day today, and now we have to get back to filming. It's such long days, it's hard to get used to," she explains, shaking her head in minor frustration.

"Yeah, I know. Leaving work at midnight and having to be there at 7 the following morning; it's crazy."

"Yeah."

"You wanna grab some dinner before you head back to your hotel?"

"Yeah, sure, I'd like that. I already had a hotel sweet-slumber party with Kurt last night, so it would be nice to spend a little time with you before I head back East."

"Yeah."

They had a great time that evening. Comparing notes about their shows. The network's involvement with everything. All this stuff that is still as new to them as recent college graduates at their first professional places of employment. He loves getting to share these moments with her. They both know they are on the brink of something big and it's so wonderful to have moments when they can look at each other for support and appreciation – like they did earlier this evening.

He can see how she's grown up. How the city has shaped her so much in the last few years. He wonders if she can see that in him to. He's not even sure if that's actually happened to him.

"You look good," she comments as they share a piece of vegan cheesecake. (He purposely took her to a vegan restaurant he passed the other day, because he's cool like that.)

He smirks. "Thanks, you look good too. Different."

She blushes and takes a bite of her cheesecake. He notices that she doesn't take complements as well as she used to. Maybe because all her dreams that she was so egotistical about when they were teens are actually coming true?

Rachel insists they split the check because they are both making enough money to pay for their own meals. He walks her back to her hotel which is not too far from the restaurant (thankfully).

"I had a lovely time tonight on our work-date, Mr. Hudson," Rachel cutely comments looking up at him with wide eyes and grin.

"I had a lovely time as well."

"Good night, Finn." She reaches up on her toes to give him a kiss on the cheek.

He kisses her cheek as well. "Good night, Rachel."

He watches her walk off, totally unsure of his feelings towards her. And terrified because he's unsure of his feelings for her.

* * *

She likes getting interviewed. She tries to come up with totally awesome Jimmy Rabbitte-esque answers to the questions, but as they start to become nearly the same with every interview, the answers start to become the same as well.

She and Ezra are being interviewed by people at E! for their "Watch with Kristen" column when they're ask about if they had any high school romances.

"I did have a girlfriend for a while," replies Ezra. "We were the kind of kids who thought it was cool to be uncool."

"I dated the quarterback of the football team in high school," she says in a cheeky tone; crossing her legs and shifting in her seat with a hit of ego.

"WHAT!" Ezra yells. "I haven't heard this story. Are you serious?"

"Yes! We dated on-and-off all throughout school. I even still have his letterman jacket."

"So you were a popular kid in high school?" Asks Ezra, with a hint of jealousy.

"No," she sighs. "I tried to be more popular, but I, just, wasn't. But oddly, he always remained pretty well-respected despite the fact that he was dating someone who was much-less cool."

Ezra smirks with a very quite giggle as the interviewer carries on with questions about working with the rest of their cast.

* * *

He feels awkward being interviewed. He tries to talk about the show as much as possible, but when they ask him person questions, like if he has a girlfriend, he doesn't know what to say because, like, he doesn't want to lie, but it's not really their business, ya know?

So when Michael Ausiello from _TV Line_ comes with a camera crew to interview the cast and take a tour of the set, he gets a little nervous.

"Your character is getting a lot of attention," Michael says to Finn as he begins the interview.

"He is?" he asks.

"He's being gushed about all over the Internet. Your show is developing a very loyal following already, of people who are so excited about your character and his story with his girlfriend."

He's not really sure how to respond to this remark. He knows the show has become popular, but he didn't know people cared so much about his character. "Wow," he replies. It's the first word to come to his mind. "That's awesome. In my opinion the stories are just getting more in-depth and intense as we keep filming, so it's exciting to hear that."

"Do you think you'll get a Back-9 pick up soon?"

"I really hope so."

"Your Twitter handle. Frankenteen? Where did that come from?"

"Well, by the time I was 15, I was nearly the same height and weight I am now. Someone called me that once jokingly and it stuck. That was right around when Twitter became all the rage, so it became my account."

"Okay, so I have to ask you, where did you get your shirt?"

Finn looks down and at his Property of McKinley Athletics shirt and looks back at Mr. Ausiello with a questioning look. "Uh, my gym teacher…"

"You attended William McKinley High School?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"No reason."

"Okay. You wanna take a tour of the set?"

"Absolutely."

He shows Michael all around the set and the reporter talks a little with the various cast members. The last place is the back lot where he keeps his drums.

"This is my drum kit," he points out with a smile. "The producers one night said that we could bring anything we wanted to set after someone asked if they could bring their dog. So I jokingly asked if I could bring my drum kit so I could practice songs from my band. I think they were so shocked that I actually showed up with it the next day that they've been kind enough to not make me move it. I just don't play when they're rolling."

He looks at Mr. Ausiello and he has a huge smile on his face. "You play the drums?"

"Yeah. I'm in a band with a few of my friends."

"You didn't happen to play basketball and have a girlfriend with shiny brunette hair in high school, did you?"

"I did play basketball…" he replies, unsure where this is going, and purposely not responding to the part about past girlfriends.

"You're a dimpled, sweet, drum-playing, lanky guy from William McKinley high who plays basketball? You are my favorite person in the world."

"Okay…"

"Can you show us some of your drum skills?"

"Okay…"

When the article comes out a few days later, he goes on to Amazon to buy the DVD box set of the series.

_Calling Judd Apatow!_

_Finn Hudson: the Real-Life Nick Andopolis_

_So, I feel in love. Finn Hudson of The Sands plays the drums while proudly sporting his McKinley High t-shirt. _

It basically goes on about how Finn is like this character on this TV show from a long time ago. He's never heard of it. But, he'll watch a few of the episodes when the package comes later in the week. Whatever. There's also a video of him playing the drums. That's cool because now people know he can do other things beside hold a gun and grieve a dead girlfriend.

* * *

He is chosen by _Entertainment Weekly_ as one of the "TV Breakouts" of this past year for their "Best and Worst 2016" issue. They ask him to come to New York for a photo shoot and he jumps on the opportunity. Even if he's only in NYC for a few days. He arrives to there at 10, like he's requested, with a cup of coffee, hoping there will be some food at this.

He's new to the whole photo shoot thing, having only done one besides the promo shots he did when the show started. It's so uncomfortable and they keep asking you to act natural, but what's 'natural' about being dressed up all fancy, with all these lights around you, while a short guy with a huge camera takes your picture? It's not like taking group shots while on vacation.

But then he feels it. The pull. _Her._

He hears the music coming from back of the big loft space and someone going "That's great Rachel. Do that again." He walks in to see her. Jumping up and down on a trampoline. Dolled up in a pretty dress and her hair all shiny and nice. She looks like an angel; flying through the sky.

"I want to jump," he comments over the noise, watching her go up and down as the flash goes off. He does.

"Finn!" Rachel calls out and she stops bounding; steadying herself. "Can he?" she asks the photog.

"Can we shoot them together?" the photographer asks the reporter.

"Why not?" the interviewer says with a shrug.

30 minutes later he's walking out of the mad dash of commotion that occurred when the crew were told they need to get him ready ASAP, as he was being shot earlier than anticipated. He grabs is iPod and hooks it up to the dock someone setup on the floor as Rachel and the photographer get up from their seats.

They are up on the trampoline bouncing slowly as the Van Halen tune starts to blast through the speakers. Rachel gives him a knowing grin as they start to sing along. They sing along to the other songs that shuffle through as they carry on with the photos. The spend most of their time doing what camera man says, but occasionally, the turn towards each other and laugh. Because they are having a lot of fun.

"Rachel, do you trust me?" he asks her.

Having a feeling he's up to no good, she cocks her head to her side and says, "Sure."

"You're mistake!" He jumps really high into the air and folds his legs so he lands sitting down. That propels Rachel about two feet high than she has been jumping with a loud laugh/holler combination. The photographer says that's good and ends it there. He says that last shot is the photo that will make it into the magazine.

He sees that there is a guy with a camcorder occasionally filming them for some behind-the-photo shoot coverage for their website. He's not worried at all about that though. After they are done jumping up and down they grab some water and sit on a couch to be interviewed. The reporter says he has some fan questions for both of them.

"Oooh…can I interview Finn!" Rachel asks.

"Sure," replies the reporter as he hands her the questions.

He turns on the couch to face her and she pushes her hair back, transforming into Studious Rachel, whom he knew very well in school.

"This is so exciting!" she says as the guy with the little camcorder comes back. She turns to him. "Hello I'm Rachel Berry…"

She gestures to him, "And I'm Finn Hudson."

"And welcome to our _Entertainment Weekly_ photo shoot." She turns back to Finn and contuse. "I have some fan questions here that I'm very excited about asking Mr. Hudson. Here we go. Question 1: what do you look for in a girl?"

"Is that really the first question?" He tries to look at the paper.

She snatches it back before he can't see it. She folds it so only the first question is showing. "Look. See."

"Wow, that's the first question? Well…," he turns to the camera, "If you really must know." Turning back to her, "I look for Rachel Berry in a girl." She puts her head down and blushes. "What do you look for in a boy?"

"Well I look for Finn Hudson in a boy, of course!"

"Of course!"

"Question 2: what do you want for Christmas?"

"An African sow pig."

"Ha!" she says laughing hard, grabbing her belly.

"An African sow pig…" he starts turning towards the camera to explain.

She picks it up. "An African sow pig is a pig that you buy and you give money to feed it and it feeds a needy family in Africa."

"For, like, a month!"

"For, like, a month. I will get you an African sow pig, Finn Hudson. Would you like that?"

"Yes."

She carries on with the few last questions and he asks questions to her. Her questions are kind of boring, like what shampoo does she use to get her hair so shiny. The last question is kind of important, though.

"Final question: what have your real-life friendships been like since all this change?"

"Well…see…like Finn here is one of my best friends," she gestures to him. "And it has kept me grounded through all this stuff that is new for me. It's nice to see familiar faces like his and others."

"We're attached by invisible theater," he can't help but add. "Theater. Connection," gesturing between them.

She laughs, gesturing between them as well. "We're attached by an invisible theater."

"God, when are you gonna _Get It Right_, Rachel?" he asks nudging her with his arm, laughing even harder.

"When are you gonna stop _Pretending_, Finn?" she asks back as they continue to laugh, ending the questions to one another.

They are both in hysterics to unknown reasons to all but themselves as the camera guy stops rolling and the reporter comes back to ask them the boring questions for the magazine. The video comes out about a month later with the magazine. There are some comments that they are cute together, but mostly people talking about how much they love their shows. And that's really the important part.

* * *

The FOX Winter Press Tour All-Star Party is just the beginning of a whirlwind that she is up against in LA the next few weeks. Luckily they wrapped up their most recent episode before her and her coworkers headed out. The show has gotten a lot of critical praise, and now, lots of nominations. It was nominated for three Golden Globes; including one for her performance in a supporting television role.

Kurt has been monitoring her every fashion moment since he is now, officially, an assistant for THE Rachel Zoe. She walks the red carpet at the event tonight and all the press and reporters want to talk to her. To take her picture. She's famous.

It's AWESOME!

She can see his tall frame several people ahead of her on the press line. He looks quite spiffy; probably due to Kurt too. He's famous as well. She Google's him every once-in-a-while and all she reads is more and more praise for his work. It's makes this all so much better. His show is nominated for tons of stuff too! He even has a nomination for Supporting Actor in a TV Series. It's so weird that they are both nominated for nearly the same thing, but it was meant to be that way.

He sees her a ways away and smiles before heading to the party with Mike Chang; turning her insides into mush.

The party is truly hopping with a live band and an open bar. It's a fun time and the critics are getting hammered; which she guesses is a good thing.

She walks up to Mike and Finn who are holding drinks at a high round table near the bar.

"Hey!" she says walking up to the boys, placing her clutch and champagne on the table as she gives each of them a friendly kiss on the cheek.

They carry on with small talk, discussing all the famous people there, when Mike comments that, "Ya know, there's a karaoke set up too? Anyone can participate while the band is taking their breaks. In fact, actors from the shows are encouraged to sing a tune or two…"

Her eyebrows wiggle along with Mike's and Finn's and they all think the same thing, at the same time. She thinks…

"One song each?" Finn suggests.

"We'll blow the roof off this place," she concurs.

Mike puts his arm out and she and Finn place their hands atop. "A Gentlemen's Agreement!" Mike arranges.

"Hazzah!" they respond back.

They all go up and pick songs from the book. Mike Chang goes up first and does a flawless rendition of "Sexyback." Although not the hardest tune vocally, the interpretive dance really put it over the top.

Finn is next, and when she hears the familiar guitar riff, her heart starts pounding in her chest. She should have known.

_Jesse is a friend_

_Yeah, I know he's been a good friend of mine_

Shaking her head, she can't help but "WOOH!" at the top of her lungs at his performance. Mike joins her back at the table and she can't help but be mesmerized. He looks really good up there. Once he starts to perform the bridge while playing the drums; there are the women in the crowd openly swooning. She's hearing hollering that she thought was only reserved for boy-band concerts. It's a sexy man performing a sexy song. She really can't blame them. He's out of breath and he finishes on the drums for the final notes, but the smile on his face tells it all. She knows that he knows that it was good. And he's proud of himself because it was good.

She's the final person up from their little arrangement. She politely asks the guitarist if can join her for the song and she mentions what it is, he immediately jumps at the chance. Finn is walking across the stage to the stirs on the other side when she gets to the mic.

"Oh, Finn Hudson," she says right into the microphone while looking at him to get his attention. "Would you mind playing drums for this song with me?"

"What if I don't know it," he asks, barely audible to the audience.

"Trust me, you know the song." The microphone still echoing her voice.

"Okay," he obliges with a head nod.

Turning back to the audience, she comments "This is a song that's better performed when people sing along; especially to the chorus. And trust me, you'll know it."

The instrumental start on the machine and she goes for it.

_Loving You, isn't the right thing to do_

_How can I, ever change things that I feel?_

Besides some vocal runs, she basically let the guitarist have his solo. And Finn's drumming was some of the best she's heard from him in a long time. It was phenomenal. The room was filled with this amazing energy and nearly everyone sang along. She was shaking when she came off stage. That was more fun than she ever could have imagined.

She went back to her hotel that night floating on air. She forgot how much fun it was to sing for an audience. She knew she needed to do that again soon.

It appears on YouTube a few days later. And from there, on the _Vulture_ blog; as they like to post videos they find of celebrities acting normal (and not so normal).

_See Fox stars sing karaoke!_ The tagline reads. _The Sands Finn Hudson can sign and play drums at the same time. And apparently give a very good Rick Springfield impression._

She knows they're not celebrities, but its fun to read the few comments people write. Mainly about how talented Finn is as playing drums and singing at the same time.

* * *

He saw the trailer a few months ago, and he goes to the theater to see it as soon as it comes out, but he must admit he's socked when he sees that _Crossrhodes: the April Rhodes Story_ is nominated for as many Golden Globes as it is. It was pretty awesome though, especially Puck's small part as April's reoccurring one-night-stand. (It's not too far from the truth.)

The Golden Globes are scary. There are all these people and cameras and it's just really overwhelming. More overwhelming than anything else he's experienced so far. He goes up to one of the ladies asking questions and she asks what his favorite movie of the year was.

"_Crossrhodes: the April Rhodes Story,_" he replies, because he can't think of anything else.

"Really? I wouldn't have taken you as an _April Rhodes_ fan," the lady comments.

"Oh, I _love_ me a 'Pippin' Hot Cup of Will Schuester'," he comments, referencing one of the new songs that was added to the film adaptation to April's autobiographical musical.

The reporter laughs and asks him who he wearing. He explains that he's brother is a stylist and that if he doesn't wear what he says, his mother calls and yells at him.

Not many other reporters want to talk to him, but that's okay. He's just about ready to go in when he sees her. Rachel. She looks incredible. So grown-up and mature in her gown. He knows he does as well in his tux. She sees him and smiles. Maybe this will be an okay night after all?

She sitting not too far from him at the Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel and she mouths to him, "How cool is this?"

"Awesome," he mouths back.

It turns out to be a totally awesome night when his show wins for Best TV Drama. He's literally shocked as he gets on stage with the others. He didn't win for his acting category, but he knew he wouldn't. It didn't matter as much as learning all their accomplishments as a whole are celebrated. They walk back stage and a _very_ famous person congratulates them and tells them they enjoy their show. He's in shock as he texts Rachel that she needs to come back there this instant. This could be her one shot at this.

He walks up to the woman. "Um, Ms. Streisand? Can I ask you a quick favor? "

He finds Rachel in the wings and grabs her shoulders. "Don't say I've never done anything nice for you," he comments before turning her around.

* * *

She heads backstage because he asked her, even though they just won their award. He grabs her.

She turns around – annoyed at Finn for making her come back to this crowded area _and_ for his comment – when she looks up and sees her.

_Holy Shit!_

Stop blinking your eyes. Say something. Speak!

"You're Barbra Streisand." Officially the dumbest thing she's ever said.

"Are you okay?" the older woman asks.

"I don't know. I'm standing in front of my idol and I have no idea what to say because I have so much I want to say. I'm not even sure what's going on."

Ms. Streisand giggles.

"I guess I just want to thank you for making it okay for girls like me to be girls like me." She gestures out with her hands.

The older woman smiles and nods. "You're welcome."

"Okay. Thank-you for meeting me. How did that happen actually?"

Barbra points to Finn. "That young man asked if I could meet his best friend for a moment." The older woman leans down and gives her a brief hug and a kiss on the cheek. "He's cute," she comments before she walks off to mingle with someone else. A smile grows on her face and she can feel the blush rushing to her cheeks. She knows that he's cute. She's already been advised by Ms. LuPone (as well as countless others).

She still shaking as she goes back to her seat. "Where have you been?" Ezra asks, whispering with concern. "Our category is next."

"I just met Barbra Streisand," she tells him. She still cannot believe that happened.

Then their show wins for Best TV Comedy. They all go up on stage and accept the award.

This has been the best night of her life.

* * *

The SAG Awards are an even bigger party than the Golden Globes. He guesses because they're a little more laid back. Puck is there because the entire cast of _Crossrhodes_ was nominated for Best Ensemble in a Motion Picture. Puck's goofing off all over the entrance way and he just shakes his head at his friend.

His and Rachel's shows are also nominated for Best Ensembles as well, for their categories in TV. When they all win, it's crazy. Surreal. He gets Kiernan to take their picture as Puck, Rachel, April, and himself standing together with their matching trophies. He and Rachel write Mr. Schue a note on the back of Puck's invitation (mainly because they know he's too drunk to notice its missing) telling him how much they miss him and thanking him for all that he's done for them.

There is still more of the night to go. He talks to his cast for the rest of the evening until Rachel stumbles to her table with Ezra. The ceremony has just ended and people are making their way out. He likes Ezra; seems like good guy. Until now.

"Finny!" Rachel calls out, gripping on tight to him. "Me and Ezra made a bet about who could drink three glasses of champagne the fastest. I won!"

"You gave her alcohol!" he hollers at Ezra.

"Well, I didn't know she'd turn into these ten minutes later!" Ezra defends himself.

"Finny, I love you. You're sexy and prefect and we're gonna get married someday!" Rachel slurs.

"Okay, I'm gonna take the drunken mess back to her hotel." He grabs her phone from her bag and hands it to Ezra. "Call her car and tell it come by."

Ezra does what he's asked and gives the phone back. Her car is waiting at the side exit by the time he gets her to the door.

"I love you, Finny," she says again before grabbing his face and kissing his cheek. He gets her into the vehicle and she's asleep by the time they arrive at her hotel. He ushers her up to her room and gets her to bed. She's asleep again instantaneously as he gets her a glass of water, some aspirin, and some crackers and places them on her nightstand.

"Sleep it off, Rachel. Good night," he murmurs before turning off the light and heading out the door.

The image that appears on _Perez Hilton_ the following day looks more incriminating than it is. It says their kissing, but anyone with eyes can clearly see that she's kissing his cheek. And even the article says that he left the hotel and got into a car home ten minutes after dropping her off.

* * *

Thankfully she doesn't get any angry messages from her producers or agent after her drunken escapades the previous evening. She woke up feeling like she was run over by a truck. She vaguely remembers Finn taking her home, but when she sees the items beside her as she looks at the clock to see the time; she knows it was him.

She puts on some much-needed sunglasses, heads out of her hotel, and walks to the Starbucks around the corner when she gets the text from Kurt with a link to the Perez Hilton piece. It's really not as incriminating as it could be, so she brushes it off as she waits for her soy latte at the other end of the bar.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Miss Rachel Barry." The voice behind her is like nails on a chalkboard and she really, really doesn't want to turn around, but she knows she really doesn't have a choice.

Jesse.

She takes be cup and turns towards him. "Jesse St. James, star of the CW adaptation of former FOX hit series _Ally McBeal_. To what reason do I owe the honor?"

"Oh, I'm just getting a morning coffee. Congrats on your award. Or should I be congratulating you _and_ Hudson. I saw your little tryst posted on Perez. You fuck him drunk and good last night?"

She's so in shock by his words that it takes her a moment to process the comment fully. This is the Jesse she dislikes. Hates. The same boy who threw eggs at her head. She isn't even sure where she gets the courage, but when the hot beverage fly's from the cup onto his face, it feels good.

"How dare you speak to me in such a way? And Finn is twice the man you'll ever be!" she yells at him. "Sorry about the mess," tells the Barista before storming out.

She's not sure how she got the nerve for that - probably the presence of her minor hangover - but if she didn't get a talking to about her actions the previous evening, she will definitely get a speech about that.

* * *

The video taken by a customer makes it onto You Tube and a few other blogs. People could really care less about the fact that she threw hot coffee on a CW heartthrob. It's the fact that she made the comment about Finn that gets (a very small) amount of press. People think they're dating and what not and even through it's entirely not true, a few people still throw out the question. The real fact of the matter is, because although her show is popular and well-received, it's still a small show with a small cast, filmed in New York and the 'attention' is just not really newsworthy in comparison to XYZ-child star with a DUI.

Once the awards that actually pertain to TV actors die down, she's back in NYC and back to work. Life is normal again. But is it 'normal' to be a paid, working actor? She gets asked to a small, indie film premier at some theater downtown with the rest of the cast. Only Lili, Ariel, and Ezra join her, but she puts on a pretty dress and does her hair and makeup and heads out.

She gets her picture taken a few times and a person from E! asks her what's in store for the rest of the season. They talk for a few moments about the show and some great comedy moments ahead. Then she gets a question that throws her threw a loop.

"So are you in Finn Hudson dating?" the woman with the mic asks.

She grins. She can't help it. "I am not dating Finn Hudson. I promise."

"How can I be sure?"

"Well if you're not sure, than you know I'm NOT dating. I promise that if, I, Rachel Berry, was dating Finn Hudson, you would know. You would definitely know. And you don't."

"But how would I know?"

"I would be carrying around a Trapper Keeper that says 'Rachel Berry and Finn Hudson forever.'" The woman laughs. "No, but seriously, were not dating. Not even close. Finn's brother is my best friend in the entire world, so I've known Finn for a while and we're buddies, but we're not dating. And if we were, I would have too much of a big mouth to be quiet about it, ya know?"

The interviewer takes that response as acceptable and bids her adieu. She gets her picture taken one more time and heads inside to watch the movie.

* * *

It's Sunday morning and she's vegging out on the couch with a cup of coffee and her laptop when her door buzzes. She hits the intercom and finds out is Ariel on the other side. Over the past year, she had developed an interesting relationship with Ariel. One day they're getting along great, and the next she couldn't be bothered. But then again, she feels that everyone can say that about a coworker or two.

When Ariel arrives, she asks what brought on this impromptu visit.

"Well, I'm meeting some friends for brunch in the neighborhood and I was early, so I figured I would stop by and say hello if you weren't doing anything. _Are_ _you_ doing anything?" The tone in her voice is minutely condescending as Ariel plops down and takes over the love seat. Seeing her act this way, and how it disgusts her, shows her how much she's actually grown up when she realizes this immature behavior is just not acceptable anymore.

"Please make yourself at home." She tries to hide the annoyance in her voice. "No, I wasn't up to much, considering it is Sunday morning. Just catching up on some e-mails, waiting for my laundry to dry, watching _Four Weddings_."

"Cool," Ariel nods, as though she's expecting more to be said. She doesn't really have more to say as her phone goes off on the coffee table.

"Oooh…It's Finn!" Ariel comments as she wiggles her eyebrows. She grabs the phone ignores the call. "What's the deal with you two anyway? I've seen at events your minor flirtation. Are you really dating him, just under wraps?"

"I'm not dating Finn."

"Yeah, right. You can be honest with me. I really don't have anyone to tell and I don't think anyone would care either."

"Gee, thanks."

"Seriously, he's a really cute guy. I know you're, like, close with his brother or whatever, but I wouldn't judge if you've taken him for a ride a few times." Ariel's rolling the pendant hanging from her necklace in her fingers as speaks. "With his height, it seems like it would be a pretty good time."

It's the final comment that sends her over the edge; pissing her off more than she already was by the entrance of the other female. "That is enough! Ya know, you don't know me. You don't know Finn. And you certainly don't know anything about our friendship and your comments are contemptible and deplorable." She rises from her chair and heads toward the door. "I don't know why you felt the need to kill time by torturing my on a lovely Sunday morning, but now you're just being a rude guest. Get out!" she commands, swinging the door open.

Ariel gets up and quietly, but quickly leaves. Before she can walk all the way to her bedroom after locking the door, she sees a text from Ariel apologizing for her behavior. Yeah, sure.

She goes to her dresser and opens up her little pink jewelry box. Her dads gave it to her when she was 8 and she's never had the heart to replace it. Grabbing the smaller velvet box inside – opening it up to see the shiny rocks staring back at her – the wave of memories she's worked so hard to hide, come peaking out.

* * *

_Their Motley Crew all sat all dressed up in the guest area as they waited for a prognosis. Apparently, the accident was as bad as it looked, and the outlook for Little Miss Head Cheerleader was looking grim. _

_She'll never say it, but she had a feeling. Something was off. Like her needing Quinn to be there was almost a way to protect her. Assurance she was okay. It was a gut feeling that she needed to make sure Quinn Fabray was okay before they began. She didn't wait and now they were all here. Waiting._

_She walks up to Finn, who's leaning against the wall leading into the corridor. "You wanna get out of here?" she asks, because she desperately needs to leave. It's killing her being here._

_"Yeah," he obliges, taking her hand. They walk together past the group. "I'm gonna take Rachel home," he notifies them."And don't worry, we're not gonna run off and elope or anything."_

_She's not sure if he was joking, but his comment would have been far funnier if it wasn't under these circumstances. The patiently waiting Glee Club still gives small smiles as they head through the automatic door._

_When they arrive to her house, they go up to her room and she looks out the window to the setting sun. She is purposefully distant towards him. And him to her. They both know why; without even needing to say the words._

_She says them anyway; still not able to face him. "They were right, weren't they," she begins, hardy above a whisper. "Everyone. That we were too young. That we were being foolish and stupid and idealistic and not truly thinking this through. They were right. Weren't they?"_

_She turns and faces him, waiting for a response. "Weren't they!" she demands._

_"They were," he finally agrees, speaking as softly as her. "I'm so sorry Rachel. This is all my fault," the regret pours from his voice as he carries on; rambling about. "I didn't mean to hurt you or anyone else. I just love you so much and I thought by doing this it would keep us together because whenever I think about my future I think about you and that's so unfair to you. And I'm so sorry to put you through this, but I do love you so much and I never meant to hurt you and put you in a position you were unsure of—"_

"_I was sure!" She interrupts him. "I love you. And I want to be with you so much, but it's just—" _

"_It can't be right now." He interrupts her. "We're too young. We don't know what we're doing. And it was so unfair – to each other – making decisions we really aren't ready for." _

"_But I thought I was ready," she explains as she walks closer to him, placing her hands on his chest. "I really, honestly did, but—"_

"_We're not ready, Rachel," he calmly interjects, placing his hand on her back, and rubbing up and down. "We're not. It just took a devastating car wreck for us to realize it."_

_She places her head against his chest and he holds her for a long time. She tries to fight back the tears, but some still come out anyway. She looks back up at him and wipes some off her cheek. "I should…I should probably give this back to you," she says looking down, still in his strong arms, taking it off her finger and handing it to him. _

"_No," he replies, placing the ring in her palm and folding her fingers over it. "One day, I'll put that ring back on your hand it will be for the right reasons. That I promise."_

_She can't help but shed more tears at his hopeful statement. They engage in a passionate kiss and soon find themselves lost in one another. _

_They make love that night, and for the first time (since, ya know, they starting doing that), it didn't feel like they were two kids sneaking around when their parents weren't home. It felt adult and grown up, like she was hoping tonight would go. But she realized they felt older because the decision they made that night – the decision not to wed at eighteen – was the most adult action they've ever taken. Either of them. _

_They matured that night more by not getting married, than they ever would have if they had gone through with it. And the blissful acts they partook in that evening were a reflection of that. _

* * *

He hasn't heard much from Rachel recently. He thinks some of the press about their fictional relationship freaked her out a bit, but he doesn't really mind. They just hung out a few times at some events. It wasn't like they were having hot make out sessions in the janitor's closet. (A fantasy he always wished would come true.) He has a feeling that something – or someone – rubbed her the wrong way.

With all the excitement of awards season long past, life went back to its daily routine. They really didn't speak much besides e-mail and texts messages before all the events and occasions, and now things were just back to what they were before.

He gets an interesting phone call at the end of February that gives him something new to add to his resume. Mercedes Jones needed a drummer for a few of the tracks on her album, and he was the only person she could call for the job. Honored by her request, he immediately takes her up on the offer and comes in for a recording session of a few of her songs.

It's his first time ever in a real recording studio.

When he finds out that one of the tunes he's helping out with is her first single, and he's asked to be in ten seconds of her video, he's excited. Despite working on a TV series, music was still a love of his and this was just a cherry on top of an awesome run of months.

It suddenly becomes ten-thousand times better when Stevie Nicks walks in to listen to their recording session. She politely praises Mercedes and her vocal prowess, as she talks all about her life. Him, Mercedes, Sam (who's being hanging around), and the others working with them are all awestruck by Stevie's presence. She, like, a real rock star.

"Now you, 'Jesse's Girl' person." Holy shit, she's talking to him. "I've seen that video and I come from a long line of men name Jesse, so I'm Jesse's girl many times over, so I'm a huge fan of the song and you're rendition was just as good as the original. And you play the drums so well! And the cover you did of our song with that girl was wonderful."

Holy crap. Stevie Nicks just complemented him. "Um…um…thanks," he says slower than he wanted. He's blushing really hard and it wishes it would stop.

She speaks for few more minutes and politely exits to let them get back to the music. He still sits their dumbstruck, like he's fifteen, as he watches her go by.

* * *

Her agent called and said that it was an emergency. When she heard the words coming out of the other end of the receiver, it was _most definitely_ an emergency.

It's a big audition. Huge. Even bigger than _Parents and Children_. It's a dream come true.

"Rachel Berry," the call out for her to start next. Her music starts to play.

She knows exactly what to do. She pushes open the curtain from the back and watches Adam Shankman and his 'people' sit awestruck at what she is capable to do. What notes her voice can reach and the stage presence she truly has. It's perfect, just like it was December of 2009.

She finishes singing and takes a second to catch her breath. "So, I can run some lines when you're ready," she comments to silence as the casting people pick their jaws up off the floor. She can't even stop the devilish grin growing on her face.

* * *

He's about to be interviewed by Kristen Dos Santos about the gripping season finale of his series when he looks down at his phone.

_I'm gonna be Barbra! _She texts him, with no further context.

He sees his in his inbox a press release explaining that _Parents and Children_ starlet Rachel Berry has been chosen out of several contenders to portray Barbra Streisand in the Bio-Pic for HBO filming this summer. He's eyes shoot out of his sockets when he reads the e-mail. And now he has to be interviewed.

"I'm sorry I'm a little 'off the walls' a friend of mine just got really good news today and I'm just so happy right now!" he explains.

Kristen smiles, charmed by his demeanor, (as several report seems to be when they interview him), and they continue talking. She asks him how it feels to know that the show has been picked up.

"It's awesome!" he says, because it, like, really is. "It's great knowing that I will have a job again next year. And it's also great knowing that I get to come back to **this** job that I love so much and getting to work with such amazing people. It's such an embarrassment of riches."

She smiles wider at him and says, "You're a cute kid, you know that."

He blushes. "Thanks."

When they get picked up for a second season, he caves and goes to the car dealership. He even has to admit that the truck has seen better days. Most of which occurred before he even owned it. He's cautious, so he only leases It, but he is excited to troll around in a German-engineered car that goes, "Vroom, vroom."

* * *

When Finn offers to pick her up at Kurt's when they both have to go to the big corporate FOX building for their contract renal meetings, she thinks it's just an act of kindness out of his heart. When he shows up in his new toy, she realizes that showing off was a contributing factor to his chivalry. She shakes her head as she enters his vehicle.

They head to their destination when he asks, "So how's it living with Kurt in his tiny apartment."

"I've done it before; I can do it again for a few months. Especially for something as great as this."

"So are you subletting your current place?"

"No. Ya see, I have this amazing job that is so great that I can afford to pay for that pad while away for business for a few months."

"That sounds like an amazing job!"

"It is!"

"I have one of those too!" They pull into a spot at their destination when he asks, "What time do you get out of your meeting? I know it's later than mine, right?"

"I'm supposed to be out by 1, so we can meet up for lunch if you want."

"It's food. I never say no to food."

"Okay, I'll see you then."

He heads up to his room assignment a few floors above hers as she enters the conference room for her meeting. She's really early, but she still takes out the folder with her contract and papers; and a pen and pad for notes. She sits around quietly waiting as she looks down at her watch and sees how early she actually is. She's tempted to go get water at the vending machine when she sees the double-doors on the opposite side of the room open, and Kevin Riley appears, with few other executives.

"Glee clubs?" one of the other men in fancy suits asks.

"Yeah, he wants to do a one-hour musical-comedy about glee clubs," Kevin explains.

"We are talking about the same Ryan Murphy?" the same gentleman asks rhetorically. "The guy who created a show about psychopathic plastic surgeons?"

"Same guy. He really wants to do this. Glee clubs." Kevin shakes his head in bewilderment.

"Excuse me?" she interjects, getting their attention. And really who's gonna deprive her. She's on the highest-rated non-reality show they have. "Did you just say that Ryan Murphy, creator of _Nip/Tuck_ and cult classic _Popular_ wants to make a show about _high school glee clubs?"_

She's terrible at hiding her excitement at the end of her questioning. "Yeah. Why?" one of the suited men replies.

"No reason." She looks down at her watch. "You know, we have a few minutes till we start, so I'm gonna go run and get a soda. Be right back." She's out of there faster than she can change her mind.

She runs up the stairs two flights to his floor. She storms down the hallway with a determined expression and intense pace. She sees him though the window on the side of the room.

She opens the door just enough to make her figure seen, but holds it open, not wanting to fully enter. "Hi. Sorry to interrupt," she says to the cast of his program (who must now all think she's crazy).

"Rachel, what are you doing here?" Finn whispers with a stern edge.

"I need to talk to you. Right now."

* * *

**A/N:** So, should I continue? I see this story being 3-4 long segments like this. I hope to have more up soon. Please review and let me know what you were thinking, feeling, and more. :-)

(And I hope I didn't offend any _Modern Family_ fans by making Ariel an antagonist. I just needed to find an actress around her age and of similar popularity to her.)


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Note:** Okay, I realized this update is about 3 months overdue. I apologize. To say I was busy would be an understatement. On top of this, about halfway through, I got some serious writers bloc. I now present part one of the two part end. The second part is already written and I hope to have it up tomorrow morning (at the latest). I should mention this chapter includes sections that are from other points-of-view besides Finn and Rachel's. Also, this story takes place in my fictitious world in my head where _Magic Mike_ has not come out yet. Please read and give feedback.

**A/N 2:** Edited for a few typo correcctions.

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Glee "Hey Ladies" by the Bestie Boys would have been in the _Saturday Night Fever_ episode. (And I thought this far before recent events. You're missed, MCA.)

* * *

He got up and gently pushed her through the doorway and closed the door behind him, "Rachel, what are you doing?"

She gabs his wrist and drags him along the corridor. Her nails are digging into her skin and it kinda hurts. She pulls him further down the hall, as her grip digs deeper. He thinks she might draw blood by the time the shoves him into the stairwell and against the wall.

Janitors closet dream coming true…?

Nope. She's standing about a foot away foot away from him. Damn. "What the hell, Rachel?" he yells. "Do you have any idea what you just did?"

"Ryan Murphy, the guy who made _Nip/Tuck,_ just pitched a network TV show to FOX about High School Glee Clubs!" She yelps.

"Are you serious?" She can't be telling the truth. Can she?

"Yes. I overheard Kevin Riley talking about it after their meeting was over!"

"Well do you think that Ryan-guy is still here?"

"I don't know, but we should find out," she announces before taking off back down the stairs.

He follows her, because he as to. Because with this…they will always been a team.

They ran down to the ground floor, Rachel commenting on their way down that the receptionist might know where to go or look.

"Hello," Rachel beings, flipping her hair for emphasis. "We were wondering if Ryan Murphy was still here, and if so, where would he be exactly?"

"You actually just missed him. He might still be at valet if you're lucky."

They were running through the lobby to the front door before the woman finished speaking. He stood at the elaborate entranceway and there was no one around. Then "There," he announces as he points to the man waiting for his car.

They ran towards to him as the attendant was already driving his sports car up. "Mr. Murphy!" Rachel calls out, waving her arms. Trying desperately to get his attention.

The bald man, medium build, turned towards them and took off his sunglasses with a 'what the fuck'-look all over his face.

"Mr. Murphy," Rachel begins panting. "We…we want to help you."

"Huh?" the older man asks, looking even more confused.

"I heard that you are hoping to make a show about high school glee clubs," Rachel explains.

"Yeah? so?" He opens his car door, as if they're unaware that he wants to get going.

"Well, we can help you," he adds again.

"How?" Ryan asks, almost as a challenge.

"Well, Finn and I are the former co-captains and lead singers of the William McKinley High Glee Club."

"New Directions!" he adds. "Say it a few times."

Rachel giggles, but Ryan just shakes his head. "Look, you're cute kids, but I really must be going," Ryan says doubtfully as he puts one leg in his car; leaning in.

"Well at least let us have you card?" he asks, grasping at straws. "So we can set up a meeting."

"Since we are the stars of the two hottest, new, award-winning shows on the network you are trying to develop a deal with," Rachel interjects, proving they have a powerful hand to play.

"Fine, here," Ryan sighs take some cards out of his wallet. "You can set up a meeting some time soon."

"Thank-you!" they say in unison as he drives off.

"Ya know, this has his e-mail on it," Rachel observes.

He feels like their quest might be a loss cause and he leads her back towards the building. "So, you want to set up a meeting for next week or something?" he asks her.

Looking down at the card, she slyly says, "I have a better idea…"

She looks at him with a devilish smirk and he realizes he has to get back to his contact negotiations. "Oh, crap, I gotta go," he announces, running off. "I'll see ya later," he calls out before heading into the stairwell.

Running back into the conference room with perspiration on his brow, he asks, "So, what did I miss?"

The questioning and stern looks on his co-workers faces showcase that he might be in a little bit of trouble. Flashing his I'm-innocent-please-be-nice-to-me smile doesn't even help.

* * *

Her meeting goes well. Really well. They give everyone very sizeable raises and more flexible shooting hours. They also praise the cast for their hard work and effort. It was the first time she was ever really evaluated by her work from an employer before. And to be honest, despite the praise from critics and fans alike, hearing that your bosses are proud and appreciative of the work you've done (and want more of it) is the best honor she could be given.

Her meeting ends quickly and she walks out into the hall to find Finn playing a game on his phone while waiting for her in the lobby. God, boys and their video games. She didn't understand it. "Hi," she says getting his attention.

He glances up at her. "Hey. You ready for lunch because I'm kinda hungry."

"You're always kind of hungry," she comments. He smiles. "Yeah, we can go, but we have to eat lunch at Kurt's place. We have a project ahead of us."

They leave quickly and get to Kurt's apartment in a jiffy. She connects her laptop to her external hard drive and opens up the folder entitled _Glee Club_. Inside are video files of nearly all their performances of the three years of their club.

"When did you film all of these?" Finn asks her as she opens up her e-mail account.

"I had a hidden camera in the back of the auditorium and I would often film rehearsals in the choir room as well. I would use these as a way to tell Mr. Schue who was not keeping up with the others." She moves the folder to her desktop and disconnects.

"Narc," he comments.

"Just be quiet and start to send videos as well," she bosses annoyed, gesturing to her external drive for him to plug in and drag and drop the folder.

"Hey! I'm not your boyfriend anymore! You can't boss me around anymore!"

His words sting as she looks down at her keyboard. He's right; she's not his girlfriend anymore. And she no longer has the right to tell him what to do.

"I'm sorry…" she says quietly, still looking away from him.

"No. I'm sorry," he rebuttals quickly. "That was over the line."

"No. It wasn't," she explains, looking back up at him.

He did his eyes-shifting-from-side-to-side, shoulder-shrug which indicated that he wanted to move off the topic. "So…what do you need me to do?"

"If you don't mind, please plug into the hard drive and start sending him the videos that aren't from competitions. Like that mattress commercial and us performing with April Rhodes."

"No problem," he said as he grabbed Kurt's laptop and started it up.

* * *

He was in meetings all afternoon, but he could hear his phone buzzing with e-mail after e-mail. It was strange for a Thursday afternoon. Not even wanting to look at his phone, he headed back to his office hoping his assistant cleared some of the issues filling his inbox.

The e-mail address 'rbberry ' appears to be who jammed up his inbox until no more messages could come through.

"What the fuck?" he muttered to himself as his eyes scanned the screen.

Each message had a very simple subject. _Sectionals 2009, Regionals 2010,_ and so on. He didn't know who had sent him all this and whether he should open the files in case of viruses. Sure, he has a Mac, but all that bullshit about how they don't get viruses was just that.

Risking his computer (and his sanity) he opened the first message and found a video and one sentence written down, "We're the last group."

Brad, his partner in crime for his business, came walking in as he was about to watch. "So, I think we need to maybe rework Ian's script a little more and represent because I think we have something really great to show Kevin."

"I agree," he replied, hitting play with his mouse.

"What's that?" Brad asked.

"I don't know..." he trailed off as the girls from Jane Addams Academy start to shake their booties and perform "Proud Mary" in wheelchairs and that song from _Dreamgirls_.

Then, was a group of deaf kids singing "Don't Stop Beleivin'" which was entertaining in its desperation.

By the time the deaf kids were on their second song, Brad called Ian from down the hall, telling him he had to see this. All three men sat entranced as the performances went on.

They watched as the third group was announced. "And now, from McKinley High School...New Directions!"

"New Directions! That's awesome!" Ian comments.

"Why?" Brad asks.

"New Directions. It sounds like 'nude erections.' That's funny," Ian explains.

The other two men smile as the beginning cords start to play for the final performance.

"Barbra," Ryan softly mutters before they hear her sing.

_Don't tell me not to live, just sit and putter. Life's candy and the sun's a ball of butter…_

She eventually came into the sight of the camera from the back of the theater singing the Streisand Ballad. Then, as the rest of the group emerged and cascaded into formation. The boys were mesmerized. The seamless transition from the ballad, to the Rolling Stones classic, to the heartfelt Queen crowd pleaser.

But those were just the beginning…

As soon as they watched one video, another came into the inbox. The satirical and the strange. Songs about love, life, and overcoming adversity. Music videos parodying those of the past. The three men were hooked.

Some even had funny comments in the e-mail. Such as: _'Yep, that's Mercedes Jones' 'Is that TV heartthrob Jesse St. James performing "Bohemian Rhapsody_?"' And _'The superman of kisses.'_ Which had the reply, _'Why is that T-Rex eating that Jew?'_

There were also e-mails with YouTube links to bazaar videos of these kids' lives. They watched every installment of _Fondue for Two._

"So...who wants to watch the 'Run Joey Run' video again?" Ian asks as the other two men who were still mystified.

"Oh, yeah," Brad replied, as he leaned towards the computer to find that video again.

* * *

Later that evening, she checked her e-mail quickly before heading to bed. A grin grew on her face before she even opened the reply.

_Okay, so you got my attention. I can meet Friday for lunch. _

She replied that Friday works and told Ryan to meet at the trendy place that Ariel from her show insisted had tasty vegan fare (because if she was doing work over lunch, she was going someplace she can eat).

The following morning, she let herself into his and Mike's apartment. Careful to make enough noise to wake up Finn, but not get him completely pissed off. The brief comment he gave her yesterday, even though he apologized, really stuck with her. He was right. She didn't have the right to have to demand the obligations of a boyfriend if she certainly wasn't giving him the perks.

"Morning Rachel," Mike says coming down the hall in a t-shirt and flannel pajama bottoms. Oops. She didn't want to wake _him_. "Did Finn give you a key?" he asks as he pours some milk from the carton to a glass.

"I used the hid-a-key. Kurt told me where it was," she explains.

"Oh." He takes a big gulp from his glass.

"I'm sure that Finn told you all about the project we're working on."

"Oh, yeah. Some guy wants to make a show about Glee. Well, you and Finn can certainly give him lots of material."

"Yeah. Last night we sent him all these videos of New Directions performing. It was fun to look at all the old stuff again."

"That wasn't what I was referring to," Mike comments, but she was already aware.

"How's Tina?" she asks, desperate to change the topic.

"Good, I guess. I haven't spoken to her in a while. Last I heard she had a really nice boyfriend she met at Ohio State."

"That's nice. I must admit though, besides me and Finn, when we were kids, I was convinced that you and Tina were gonna get married."

Mike shrugs. "Well Rachel, they're high school romances. They're not met to last forever."

She looks down at a spot on the counter where the Formica has chipped off. They should really fix that. "I guess you're right," she replies, eventually bring her eyes back up towards him.

"Well, I have to get ready for rehearsal. It was nice seeing you," Mike says, walking up to give her friendly kiss on the cheek.

"It was nice seeing you, too," she replies as he heads back down the hall.

Mike knocks on the door across from the room he emerged from. "Wake up!" he commands.

"Why?" Finn asks from the other side of the door.

"Because you have a petite, brunette visitor waiting for you in the kitchen," Mike explains.

She can hear him groan. "I'll be out in a minute, Rachel," Finn replies.

After she explains that Ryan Murphy did respond to their massive amount of e-mails, they sit down to start working on how they are going to explain their life in show choir. Glee, and all that it entailed. They needed to present this as professional young people who can handle being at the grown-ups table, but she also wanted to make sure they expressed how much this meant to them in school. It's harder than she thought, but somehow they get through it.

* * *

They go to the fancy restaurant to meet with Mr. Murphy and he's nervous. He's done a few of these fancy lunches. Meetings where they all order water because it's healthy and they discuss the possibilities of the future while their fish get cold.

She insists that they get there early. They must come off as qualified as possible. They have to be taken seriously. This is too personal to them for it to be seen as willy-nilly. This is their one shot to lay everything down to this man. He knows she's right.

When Mr. Murphy walks in, he can't read his expression. His attitude. He seems like he's appeasing them, but at the same time, genuinely intrigued. They just practically laid out their entire romantic relationship to him, he must be a little curious as to why.

Ryan politely greets them and about two seconds after he picks up his menu, a waitress comes by for their order. They must keep the crowd moving in and out of the tables fast. They have Paps outside waiting for big celeb dating moments. Luckily John Mayer is dining outside with the latest conquest who's succumbed to his douchbaggery; leaving him and Rachel alone.

Ryan orders the Cobb Salad without reading the menu. Rachel orders the Thai noodles with tofu; as she often insists to reports that she does eat carbs. He orders the fish, like he always does at these meetings, because it's healthy enough to seem like he cares about his body but tasty enough to eat the whole plate without realizing its chick food. Everyone orders water with lemon.

The tediousness of the eating rituals associated with these meetings is really starting to get him. And he's just started this all of…_this._

"So, I guess my first question is: are you two still together?" Ryan asks understandably.

"No. Absolutely not." Rachel replies quickly. Almost on reflex. He doesn't even get to open his mouth for a response before she beats him to it. And the urgency to which she replies stings as he contemplates what happened.

"Do you think you'll ever get back together?"

We both look at each other with uncertainty. They both know the promises they've made in the past. They both also know the many ways in which their lives have changed over the past five years. And honestly, he's not totally sure what she wants. Or what he wants either.

"Why do you care?" He asks in response.

"Because I want to make sure that you can handle working together is such close proximity at a professional level. The romantic story you shared with those videos it a key element to all of this. When my partners and I were watching these clips, we found your story interesting. Engaging. We wanted to know more and so will the audience. The group of people you performed with are all extremely talented, but the romance between the two of you is essential to all of this. It's necessary for a teen TV series to work. Dating drama. The young audience needs to stay intrigued. Entertained. You two impressed my team and me and we want to work with you. We want to know more. Bottom line."

A mischievous smile spreads across Rachel's face. He's seen it a million times before. "Good," she says "Now let's get to work. We need to get another meeting with FOX. We need to make our voices heard."

"We think we can get you another meeting," he adds, because he has to say something. "We kinda have the network around our fingers right now."

"Great," Ryan replies. "Now, if you don't mind me asking, did you two lose your virginities to one another?"

Well, that was blunt. His eyes pop out of his head. What the hell kind of question was that?

Before the shock wears off, Rachel already has a snarky response. "No," she replies. "Finn Hudson lost his virginity to a closeted lesbian." Her smile still wicked.

He blushes and cocks his head in embarrassment. Trying to express the truth without saying words.

"Okay… "Ryan giggles. "So, I have to ask…how did you come up with the Journey Medley? That was impressive."

"That was all Mr. Schue," he says with his crooked smile.

"But it was a little us," Rachel interjects.

"But mostly Schue," he reasons.

"Who's Mr. Schue?" Ryan asks.

"Will Schuester."

"You want a pippin' hot cup of him," Rachel adds before moving on. "Now we've outlined how we feel the meeting with the execs should go," Rachel begins as she explains in detail how they should pitch the show for a second time.

"Wow…you seem very organized Miss Berry," Ryan comments after Rachel finishes her intricate synopsis.

"Rachel's what you call a Controlist," he adds.

She blushes. "I'm…I'm controlling," shifting towards him, in hushed anger she repeats that, "Controlist isn't a word."

* * *

So they easily set up a meeting. Finn was right; they did have the network wrapped around their fingers. They discussed what songs to impress FOX with a few days ago and even ran through the numbers once or twice to be prepared. Finn asked Brad, the studio pianist from Mercedes' album, to help out with the musical arrangements.  
"Are you sure he can handle our tunes?" Rachel asks.

"Rach, he knows how to play, like, every song, ever. Don't worry. It will be great," Finn reassures her as he screws on a symbol from his drum set to the stand. He walks up to her and squeezes her shoulder, like he has several times in the past. A gesture which always makes her calmer and much, _much _surer of herself.

"This is our shot," she says to him, his grip still on her.

"We can't screw it up," he replies.

They smile at one another; sharing a moment of trust, respect, and friendship like those that helped them through so many obstacles in the past.

The hear the three boys walk in and Finn lets go of his hold. She misses the contact immediately, but they both turn and smile as they are greeted by the others.

"Are you two ready for this?" asks Brad before taking a sip of his Starbucks.

"Absolutely," she replies. Because…they are!

The executives walk in with swagger. They are at the tops of their field and know they are hard to impress. They slouch into their seats, eyes fixated on their iPhones (the latest versions which just came out on Tuesday) waiting for a reason to give a damn. To be dazzled!

"As you are aware, Ryan Murphy, Brad Felcheck, and Ian Brenan – the three men sitting aside of you – had a vision to make a television series about high school glee clubs. An idea Finn and I fully support," she begins in her studious, attentive matter. Preparing herself for rebuttals.

Finn adds, "There is an audience for this show, the sure power of music demonstrates that, but Rachel and I would like to show you anyway."

He walks around to his kit and he and the pianist start to play. She shakes her hips a little as she counts off on her fingers: 1-2-3-4.

_Don't go breakin' my heart_, Finn begins.

_I couldn't if I tried_, she continues.

_Aw honey if I get restless,_

_Baby you're not that kind_…

They sing together in perfect harmony; well aware that Ryan and his partners had not seen them perform this number. She can't help but let a sly smile sneak out at the looks of pure amazement and surprise on the (slightly) elders watching them.

As the Elton John classic comes to a close, with their hands clasped during the final belt, applause breaks out.

"You want to hear another one?" Finn asks with a mischievous grin himself.

"Yeah!" Kevin Riley replies in delight.

She already knows what they are gonna perform next. Not only is it another number that they didn't show the three boys, but it's one that was a pivotal moment in their epic romance.

When the "Borderline/Open Your Heart" mash-up finishes – once again with their bodies only inches apart with sexual tension radiating between them – they are met with even more applause and delight.

"That was incredible," Kevin comments, genuinely impressed.

"Was that two songs?" Dana Gowen asks; curious.

"Yes," she replies matter-of-factly. "A mash-up."

"A mash-up is when you take two songs and you mash them together to make an even richer explosion of musical expression," Finn explains.

When she sees the room full of _glee_-full smiles, she knows that they are excited. That they are, at least, at a stage that a pilot might be funded. They were going call casting directors and music producers. They were going help them get this started. They were interested. They were gonna do this thing!

* * *

He knows that they need to talk to him. Rachel isn't comfortable doing so. He doesn't want to talk to him at all, really, but he knows it wouldn't be 'right' otherwise.

"I'm so not looking forward to this," he murmurs to Kurt over eggs and toast.

"Understandable," Kurt concurs.

"I mean, Rachel and I have this amazing opportunity… a real chance at furthering our careers, but I don't want to see him, but I don't think I have a choice. I guess this is just one of the drawbacks of being an actor."

"One of the many," Kurt included. "God, I still can't believe I almost pursued that road. Luckily I got off that train early enough to find my passion and my solace on 7th and 27th."

"And now you're here," he comments while his bother explains his trepidations of the entertainment industry.

"And now I'm here. Do you want me to go with you?" Kurt asks, trying to help. "I could be like backup."

He can't help but smile. He knows Kurt means well, but it's still a little funny. "Nah, man, I'm good."

"Are you sure? I could be your getaway car. And really, this is the one city where they're needed."

He couldn't argue with that, but he knew he had to do this alone. He's not sure why he had to do this alone, but he had to. "Point taken, but I got this," he replies as he gets up; and grabs the check.

He gets into the Universal Studios lot easily, even though he films at Paramount. He finds Lot 8 with the big promotional billboard posted on the side. This was the _New Ally McBeil _set. They were still filming for a few more days. He parks the Audi and walks up to the cement siding. Leaning against it, he hears the rumbling of the giant metal doors and steaks out his kill.

Perfectly quaffed hair passes by him and he calls out. "Hey! St. James!"

Jesse turns, and slaps on his slyest grin. "Hudson. To what do I owe the untalented?"

"Please tell more to my SAG award." Two can play at the smart-alack remark game. He went to college.

Jesse inhales deeply, obviously losing a lot of his cool. "What do you want?"

"I have a proposition for you."

* * *

When Rachel and Finn insisted they set up a meeting with the young man, he had to admit that he was surprised. But he was in a lot of the videos, so there must be a reason. Plus, he wanted to know if he was gay. And if so, was he available?

In the conference room of Ryan Murphy Productions, he walks in to find the three young people at the table anxiously waiting for him. Rachel and Finn are seated on the shorter end of the rectangular table as Jesse St. James, and his luscious waves, sit directly in the middle of the longer side of the massive counter. He sits opposite him, noticing how his presence fills the whole room, yet he's only one person.

"Hi, I'm Ryan," he starts extending his hand. "Finn and Rachel insisted I meet with you."

He takes a seat as Jesse replies. "Hello. I'm Jesse St. James. Former lead singer and dancer of 4-Time National Show Choir Champions: Vocal Adrenaline."

He can't help it. A small chuckle slips out. Jesse's face snaps back in shock and Finn and Rachel look at himself with concern. Oops. That obviously wasn't a good thing. "Please tell me more," he says to Jesse; because he does want to know more. He really wants to know everything. And he also hopes he didn't piss him off. Ah, he'll give Jesse an Associate Producer credit.

* * *

He had a really awesome summer ahead of him. He was gonna be in not one, but two, movies. Yep, that's right, two. They were both small roles, which is why he would be able to cram both into his summer break, but they were opportunities for exposure and work with great actors; which is all he really cared about.

The smaller if the two roles was in the next installment of the _I Know What You Did Last Summer _franchise. He was one the people who dies right in the beginning. It as a cool bit part and he got to work with Jennifer Love Hewett; and she had, like, the nicest boobs ever. The film also had Emma Roberts, whom seemed nice enough.

The bigger role was for a movie directed by Rita Wilson. She's married to Tom Hanks. Forest Freakin' Gump. The film was written by the _Big Fat Greek Wedding _lady and it starred John Corbett. He was playing John's son. He guessed this was cool because when he told his mom about who he was working with, she totally freaked out over the phone and got really excited.

Most the filming on _Last Summer_ was first, which to him was a fun way to start the summer. He was covered in all this red goo with pieces of sugar glass stuck to his face. He looked awesome; and so did the guy who played the passenger in his car that gets hit.

They were seated next to each other in front of the mirror as girls in miniskirts did the final touches.

"Hey, I'm Max," said the other guy who was finishing up in the make-up trailer, extending his hand.

"What's up? I'm Finn," he replies as he accepts the gesture.

"Yeah, I know who you are. I have for some time. I heard about the show you're doing with Ryan Murphy. I think that it's cool you're willing to admit that you were in Show Choir."

He didn't know how to respond. How did this kid know that? The press release about the show was particularly vague. "Um…Thanks. But, how did you, like, know that?"

"Well, honestly…and I can't believe I'm about to tell you this…but I was in glee too. I saw you and Rachel Berry totally make out on the stage of Lincoln Center."

This guy easily looked like he his school's starting linebacker. "You did?"

"Yeah, I was in the audience. I was a member of Soundsplosion!"

"Wow. That's cool, man."

"Thanks. Hey, when this all starts to go down, remember me. I think I've earned a right to have bit part on that show."

"Me too," he replied, which his signature crooked grin. "I think I know just the right part for you."

* * *

Once they had the go ahead from the network, she knew that Brad, Ian, and Ryan were going want to do research. To know more of the stories besides hers and Finn's. Honestly, she didn't want their whole lives broadcasted to the world, but they were fine if others wanted to interoperate. So they decided to let Ian go to Lima. To go to McKinley. He could explore all he wanted once he got there, but they weren't telling him anything. They simply gave him a check list (a treasure hunt, if you will) to help his journey.

1. Talk to the owner of Puck's Pool Cleaning

2. Have a coffee at the Lima Bean and cheesecake at Breadstix

3. Acquire a wheelchair and roll around the handicap ramps of the local high school

4. Meet the Cheerleading and Football coaches of said high school

5. Set up a meeting with the head agent at Lima Property Acquisitions, Inc.

6. Read any copy of _The Thunderclap_

7. Find the guidance counselor's pamphlets

8. Meet the director of the local Glee Club

9. Go shopping at Sheets 'N Things

What followed in return – as they flipped through at _Help! I'm in Love with My Step Dad_ and _My Mom has Bi-Polar Disorder and She Won't Stop Yelling!_ – was a chronicle of exploration and delight.

* * *

**A Journey to Lima, Ohio**

**By Ian Brennan**

**Day 1**

After picking up a medium drip at the Lima Bean – which is quite tasty – I travel to William McKinley High. It's the tail end of their school year and the kids in the parking lot look bored and tired. I doubt the school is air conditioned. As I walk up to the entrance, I already see one of the craziest sights of my quarter-life. There is a group of hockey players, all rocking business in the front and parties in the back, **literally** throwing kids into dumpsters. Nerdy kids dressed like the geeks on _Saved by the Bell _just being hoisted and tossed in. And no one was stopping it! Not a sole! Some gawkers off to the side took pictures on their phones, but most people just walk by. Teachers…students, not caring at all. I've only been here 30 seconds and already know I'm in for a wild ride.

Upon entering, the school is pretty generic. Basic. Locker lined hallways. An interesting mix of ethnicities. The popular kids, the unpopular kids, and a lot of in-between. My first mission of the day is to attend my meeting with Principle Figgins. When I called saying that I was an Ohio State school official who wanted to come and take a walk of the school and meet some teachers, expressing some interest in the extracurricular, I was not questioned once. Walking into his office, with windows facing out into the hall, I notice that several of the faculty offices have this feature. I make a note as this could be great for our set design.

"Hello, you must be Mr. Brennan," the Indian man politely greets.

"Hello."

"We are so pleased to have you here to look at the proud William McKinley." That was a little too enthusiastic.

"Thanks…"

"Please feel free to look around. I know the ranking of the state's best schools, by district, is due out next month."

Oops. How do I proceed? "Yes it is. Can you tell me where the guidance counselor may be?"

"The office two doors down. The petite redhead, Mrs. Pillsbury-Schuester."

"Thank-you. And I hope all your students are on their best behavior." I have to keep up this school official act.

"Oh, they will be!" the energetic principle replies as I head out.

Walking to Mrs. Pillsbury-Schuester's office, I nock on the open door, and the teeny-tiny, exceptionally well-dressed, woman turns to me with a sweet smile as she dusts a bookshelf.

"Hello, may I help you?" she ask, removing her rubber gloves.

"Hi, I'm Ian Brennan."

"Oh, yes, from the state education department!" she comments as she moves away from the bookcase and sits at her desk.

There they were. Hidden behind her small frame. The pamphlets.

The titles! So incorrect! So wonderful!

Must get copies of all of these. Must get them now.

"So did you have any questions about the school?" asks the petite guidance counselor, snapping me from my daze.

"Yes. Who's the director of the Glee Club?"

Her face lights up a million watts.

The tiny redhead escorts me to an office off the music room – another with windows facing out into the hallway – and a man with a knit tie and a waistcoat looks up from his desk. He has curly hair with more product in it than ever needed on a human. The guidance counselor waits by the door.

"Hi, I'm Ian. I had a few questions about the Glee Club."

"Great. I'm Will Schuester, the Director of the club."

"Will Schuester?" Wasn't the Oscar-Nominated song about that guy in _Crossrhodes_?

"Yep."

After a few moments of awkward silence as I ponder whether that song is about the same guy I'm talking to, my thoughts are interrupted.

"So…what did you want to know about the club?" Mr. Schuester asks.

"Oh…well…anything. Everything. As much as you're willing to tell."

Mr. Schuester looks at me suspiciously and asks, "Um, exactly who are you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Mrs. Pillsbury-Schuester interjects. "Mr. Brennan is from the Ohio State Department of Education. He's here to find out about McKinley's extracurricular programs."

I smile in agreement as this woman saves me from blowing my cover. She politely walks off.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the curly-haired man flusters. "What would you like to know? I can tell you about our budget, our fundraising efforts, our successes, and our failures, anything you want to know. New Directions is an open book."

That was a 180° from my earlier reception. "Wow, that's a lot of information. You can give me whatever information you wish to. I'm just here to learn as much as I can about all the activities here at William McKinley."

"Oh, great!" gesturing for me to take a seat as he sits as well. "Glee at William McKinley has always had mixed reviews, but kids are still joining. They have found that Glee is a way to express themselves. Their emotions, insecurities, and life-lessons. I'm proud to say that I get to be the person teaching that."

After that, Mr. Schuester went on for hours about how the club had evolved. He talked about his personal experience in the club and the recent resurrection in 2009. He talked for a really long time and occasionally I started to zone out. Interestingly enough, not once did he mention Finn or Rachel. He did say that he was very proud of what several of the recent graduates have been doing after leaving high school, so I guess that's the only clue I will be getting from him now.

"I would love to invite you to Glee practice this afternoon if you would like to come?" Mr. Schuester asks as his catches his breath.

"Well, I'm supposed to go to Football practice," I explain.

"No worries. We end before Shannon's practice starts. We're the last class of the day."

"Okay, well, I'll see you then."

It's just around lunch time when Mr. Schuester says he has a class he needs to get to. The bell rings and he heads off; which was weird because I was still sitting in his office. I get up to look at the posters and pictures. I take a good 5 minutes looking over all the

"Priorities" listed on a manifesto; number one being: Help the Kids.

Moving over to the wall behind Schuester's desk, I finally saw the goods. There, right in the middle of the pinned up papers, was a picture of Rachel, Finn, April Rhodes, and the mohawked douchbag-guy from _Crossrhodes_. They all appear to be holding SAG award trophies. Looking at the handwritten letter with two different penmanships, I took it down from the board. Turning it over, I see it was written on the back the back of a SAG invitation.

_Dear Mr. Schue,_

_Rachel and I just wanted to say 'hi' from the Screen Actors Guild Awards, as we are now members of the Screen Actors Guild. We stole Puck's invitation because we doubt he will know its missing to tell you thank-you. None of us…April, Puck, Finn, or myself would be here today if it wasn't for you Mr. Schuester and we will be thankful forever. _

_We also wanted to let you know what a wonderful time we are having and we wish that you were here. You are more than welcome to visit anytime. (Just as long as you don't rap.)_

_As your favorite students we wanted to let you know again how much you have meant to us and how much we miss you. (Just so you know Rachel added the favorite students' part.)Well, we're running out of paper. Thank-you again._

_Much Love,_

_Finn & Rachel_

I take a gander at some of the other documents, which include letters of congratulations on New Directions several victories, current class schedules, and unpaid parking tickets. I notice the halls have thinned out. My tummy grumbles and I head off for substance.

Walking into the faculty and staff lounge, I found the surroundings dismal at best. No wonder these teachers seam out of their minds. Looking at their only place of solace, I would be disturbed too.

I pour myself a cup of coffee and Mrs. Pillsbury-Schuester waves to me to join her. She is with two other…women? I think.

"Hi," I say because I don't know what else to do.

"Oh, yes, Shannon, Sue: this is Mr. Brennan, he's from the state education department and he's here to look into our extracurricular activities," Emma explains as she gestures to me and the two people on the opposite side of the table. She thinks I can't see her she mouths, "Hopefully this means more funding!"

The larger, muscular brunette extends her arm, "Hi, I'm Shannon Beiste. Head Football Coach."

"Football coach?" I repeat back.

"Yep." _Brilliant!_

"Sue Sylvester," the blond, slightly older women introduces as I shake her hand as well. "Coach of the 10-Time National Champion Cheerios."

"Cheerios? Like…the cereal?"

"No, Cheerios like the champions who get featured on Wheaties boxes."

"Oh, okay." I honestly don't understand what she's talking about, but she seems scary, so I let it slide. Emma jumps in, "Shannon, Mr. Brennan—"

"Please, call me Ian," I interrupt.

"Sorry. Ian was interested in going to watch the football practice after glee rehearsal this afternoon," the redhead explains.

"Sounds great—" Shannon manages to squeak in before Sue cuts her off.

"Glee club? Why would you want to go watch those talentless hacks? The last original idea they had was when I helped them win Nationals in 2012. The only reason why they even win stuff is because they have a few of my champions in their little collection of misfit toys."

My, my, that was an impressive rant. "I'm going to visit as many of the actives as possible, Ms. Sylvester. I also plan to watch your cheerleaders as well." With that I get up and go find lunch elsewhere, because I'm terrified of what the blonde lady will say next.

The bell for the last period rings and I walk into the choir room. The generic chairs, the red sound wall, the baby grand aside the jazz band. It's just like the videos. Even with the different faces, a familiarity –sameness – is still there.

I sit off to the side high up in the back, trying hard not to intrude on their camaraderie. The kids quite down as Will walks in. "Fun," he writes on the dry-erase board.

"As Nationals is over and there is only a short-while left in the school year, your assignment for this week is as simple as that. Find a song that is fun and have fun performing it. I don't want you to be serious or dramatic. Just teenagers having a good time." The young people all nod in approval. "But, my one rule: no one can perform 'We Are Young' because I'm just sick of hearing it. And that's saying something since it was a big single 5 years ago."

The class all claps and cheers in response. Genuinely excited by the assignment they are to set forth.

"Oh, and before I forget, this is Mr. Brennan," Mr. Schuester gestures towards me. Eeek! "He's from the Ohio State Department of Education and he will be watching our rehearsals for the next few days."

I awkwardly wave as they all turn and look my way. Highly un-amused. They go back to what they were about to do, unaffected by me presence. They all seem so energized. Talking about what songs they could perform. What costumes and choreography to use. It was entertaining to watch. To learn how much thought, time, and effort went into one 3 minute song. I was once a member of show choir myself and watching these kids this afternoon brought back a flood of memories for myself. It showed why this show was important. Why this show had to happen.

I am introduced to the teammates of Shannon's football organization in the locker room. They could care less. They show competence on the field, but The Beiste seems frustrated. She's yelling out calls and commands I don't understand, since I know nothing about football, but overall she seems annoyed by a lack of effort and acknowledgement to what is going on. She gives a speech later on about how their efforts this summer will affect what spots they will have come fall. They all look a little intimidated by that, but not enough to discuss it afterward. There are five gentlemen in the corner whom I recognize from Glee. They noticeably distance themselves from the other players and, as I walk by them on my way out, I hear them discussing their mistakes which cost them Nationals. I smile.

Day 2

First thing, I go to Lima Property Acquisitions to set up with a meeting with their lead agent – Lucy Fabray.

"Miss Fabray's is next available appointment isn't until 5pm tomorrow," the mouse-faced receptionist informs me.

"I'll take it," I reply because I don't really have much of a choice. I would have preferred something earlier so I wouldn't be rushed, but whatever.

I stop by the Cheerios morning practice, which is kinda intense. This Sue chick is really out of her mind. But maybe that's a good think, because these cheerleaders…they are incredible. Flawless. Each movement in perfect sequence to the last. They have easily earned every title handed to them.

"That was disgraceful! You think this is hard?" shouts rhetorically Ms. Sylvester from the middle of the bleachers. "Try giving birth at 50; _that_ was hard!"

The girls silently get back in formation and began the performance again from the top.

And with that exchange…we have our villain.

Once they're done, I head to auditorium. In arched letters over the left entrance way, I am told this is the April Rhodes Civic Pavilion. Well, I can thoroughly understand what she's a local legend around here. She is pretty awesome. You know, for a former drug addict.

Anyway, I walk inside and I'm surprised by the massive space. I guess this was built before they (supposedly) had no funding, so they're stuck with it now. They should really rent it out for community events (or AA meetings) as it does look pretty new.

I go up on to the stage and feel powerful. I like it. I can see why the kids liked it up here too. I walk backstage and find lots of costumes and props. It's to be expected. But when I find the 10 or so wheelchairs folding up against the wall, I am perplexed.

Well…I guess I can fulfill one part of my assignment. I decide to take one and roll my way off the stage with the ramp. I navigate the halls unscathed, but I do get several strange glances from members of the football team. Yes, you met me in the locker room yesterday and I was standing like an able-bodied man. I'm simply going through my scavenger hunt.

I spend the next two hours going up and down every handicap ramp on the McKinley property and then return the chair so I can get some lunch.

I head into breadstix and see every person who must work in every office in Lima. This is clearly the town Peach Pit. As tempted as I am by the soup and salad lunch special, I place my order for mediocre, over-processed rigatoni with pesto and make sure to have slice of the cheesecake. The cheesecake is actually not bad. It's soothing for my state of confusion in this strange land.

I head back to the school and go to the library. I find _The Thunderclaps_: the school yearbook. Fabulous. They are oh, so entertaining. I soon notice that in every copy I pull, the glee pages are defaced. It's kinda sad, but also kinda funny. Either way, I obviously take note.

I decide to stop by glee rehearsal again, which today is located in the ARCP. I am impressed by their performance, even thought it appears to be purely for fun. They are enjoying themselves and are their element. I remember seeing a few performances like this from Rachel and Finn's videos. I make a mental note that these performances must be part of the show as well. Camaraderie is key.

Day 3

I decide not to go back to McKinley today because of fear of people getting too suspicious. In early afternoon, I head to Sheets 'N Things.

Wow. This place is a nightmare. It's wonderful!

Seeing several customers bombard the sad townies is highly amusing. It just showcases so much the desperation of the "Lima Loser" – a phrase I heard Rachel and Finn coin a few times. They kept saying they saw the glee club as a way to prevent becoming Lima Losers. Seeing the sad folks here at 2:15 on a Thursday, I now understand why.

Is that man with a pink sweater draped over his shoulders selling weed? Can I get some?

My hunches are correct and I am able to acquire an ounce. The Chronic Lady. I take a hit later in the day. It's pretty strong. Now I just need to deal with the difficult task of coming up with a better name.

I walk around the rest of Lima in the time I need to kill upon leaving Sheets 'N Things and my meeting with Miss Fabray. It's a quaint little community of strip malls and houses. Suburbia at its best. I walk into Hummel Tire because I know that's where Finn's stepdad works. Owns, I should say. He's not in though when I ask one of the other shop attendants to speak with him.

"Okay, do you know he'll be back?" I naively ask.

"Not until next week. He's in Washington right now." This kid look so annoyed and out of it. As I lack a vehicle, I am clearly the last person he wants to deal with.

"Why?"

"Uh, because congress is in session…" The young man walks off and leaves me stunned and to my own devices.

Uh…_congress? _Making a mental note to ask more about that.

I promptly get to my meeting at Lima Acquisitions by 4:45. I'm asked to take a seat in the lobby and Miss Fabray will be there soon. I told them I was looking for household properties since I figured that would lead to less Googleing than if I was hoping to open a business.

I wait for patiently for two minutes and Lucy appears. It's the pretty pregnant girl from the videos. She's obviously older now. More mature. Adorned monochromatically in a tight grey pencil skirt, patent pumps, and silk blouse, she's all business. Hair perfectly coiffed, not one strand out of place, her face is serious. She has a very serious job. Life. (Or lack thereof, as the case maybe…)

She's stunning. One of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. The perfect blond Shiksa Goddess.

"Mr. Brennan, it's a pleasure to meet you," she begins, acknowledging my presence. I stand as she reaches for a handshake. "You file indicates you are looking at residential properties in Lima."

"Yes," I reply, accepting her extending hand.

"Well, I must admit I mainly deal with commercial acquisitions, but since Mr. Bradley, the main residential agent has left for the evening, I will be glad to show you a few properties."

"Thank-you."

She smiles and takes a deep breath. Looking me over. Analyzing me. It's like she already knows I have no intention to buy.

"Right this way," she gestures towards the door.

As we walk to her Lexus IS convertible I ask, "I thought your name was Quinn?"

She stops short in tracks and looks at me suspiciously "Quinn is my middle name," she replies curtly, her eyes narrowing.

I nod and she continues towards her car. She's scary.

The property tour gets boring by the third house. They're all the same. I guess that's to be expected. We're in a development. I finally get up the courage to ask some questions as a way to show some interest. I can tell she's getting annoyed by lack of interest. To her, I'm just a waste of time.

"I read on your profile on the company website that you graduated from Yale. How did you end up doing this?"

"Well, I started out as a theater major, actually. But after a semester in New Haven learning how amazing yuppie greed is, I changed to business and property management."

"But why would you move here from Connecticut?" I try to act that I don't know she grew up here.

"Less competition. Higher commission rates. And, I'm from here."

"Oh, okay." The short, serious sentences are painstaking.

"So, do you have any interest in this property?"

"No. Not really."

"Well, I only have one more place to show you. It's just a few doors down. We can walk from here."

We leave the house and head west down the street. We walk past a few houses as a spot the truck for Puck' Pool Cleaning. Great. Two birds, one stone.

We walk inside and it appears that life is still going on here. It's the only place that's been furnished. "This place just went on the market earlier this week. You're the first person to look at it," Lucy (Quinn) explains as we head to the second floor.

I'm looking in the bathroom as I hear her heels clack down the stairs. I follow, since I have no idea what else to do, and I find her in the living room. Talking to the guy from _Crossrhodes_ whose picture is in Schue's office. I try to keep my distance as I eavesdrop.

"So you want to hit Breadstix Friday night?" The mohawk guy asks.

A sly smile spreads across Lucy's face and shakes her head. It is obvious that the walls are falling down. All the defenses hidden behind her professionalism and costumes are slowly slipping away. It's obvious that there are only a select few who get to see her like this.

"I have plans," she rejects.

"Oh, really? What plans could be better than hanging with the Puckmister."

"I'm washing my hair. And don't call yourself that again. Ever. That might be your worst one to date."

"Washing your hair, huh? I could help… " Gosh this guy is cocky. A douche. It is rather entertaining.

"Not tomorrow."

"C'mon! I miss you, Quinny. Alright!" Uh-oh. Douche-boy is getting angry.

"Well too bad. Because I'm not Quinn anymore. And never going back to being that girl again."

"Whatever. I'll bring wine coolers…"

She sighs and shakes her head again. Cracking even more under his pressure.

I see this as a good opportunity to fake a cough to get their attention. They both jolt up, startled. I walk up to them as I hope this is the pool guy.

"Hi, I'm Ian." I extend my right hand.

"Sup' I'm Puck," Mohawk boy replies, shaking my hand.

Lucy has transformed from her venerable state back to Little-Miss-Business. "Noah has his own pool cleaning business."

"I see," nodding my head.

"Well, I need to take Mr. Brennan back to his car at my office, so we have to be going. Goodbye, Noah."

"Nice seeing ya, Luce," Noah snarks back.

"It was a pleasure meeting you," I chime in to Noah.

"Yeah," he says with a head nod.

Once we are in the Lexus back to Lima Acquisitions as we pass by the pool truck, I ask, "Why is it call Puck's Pool Cleaning if his name's Noah?"

"His last name is Puckerman," Lucy replies.

She drops me off at my car and gives me her card. She tells me to let her know if I'm interested in anything. She then takes off quickly through the parking lot.

_Ah Hah!_ I have found the other major couple. The one that constantly competes and entangles with Finn and Rachel. Prefect!

* * *

When she's done reading his notes, she smiles. He did good work. He got it and she knew she could start trusting Brad, Ryan, and Ian more with telling their story.

"It sounds like you got a feel for Lima and McKinley High over your visit," Finn remarks putting the daily recap down.

"Yeah, I did. I think I found some great material to start reworking the pilot," Ian replies.

"And we'll help too. We have some ideas as well. Lots really," She chimes in.

* * *

At his weekly brunch with Kurt, he's paying for their tab – since he now makes more money than Kurt which his stepbrother constantly reminds him about – and turns around from the cashier station only to be stopped by a familiar face. Cooper Anderson.

"Hey!" he says with excitement. Although he has made some friends while living out here, with the extremely dense population, the rare occurrence of seeing a person from his no-so-distant past is always a welcomed delight.

"Oh, Hey!" Cooper replies back, surprise all over his face as well. "How are you?"

"I'm good. Definitely cannot complain." Because, well, he can't.

"I'm glad. You're show's pretty awesome."

"Thanks. I always point whenever necessary." Cooper smiles. "I've see a few of the roles you've done. They're good," he complements honestly.

"Thanks—" Cooper's about to say something else when he's interrupted by Kurt.

"You ready to go?" Kurt asks; walking up to him dressed and groomed to perfection. Kurt looks instantly startled when he sees Cooper. He feels kinda bad."Hi," Kurt says shaken.

"Hey, Kurt," Cooper replies naturally. Years of acting, of course. "How have you been?"

"Great," Kurt nods. "Things are really going well. I love styling and working with Rachel. And I'm making a lot of connections for the future which is really exciting as well. How are you?"

"Good." Cooper nods back. "Things are looking up."

Taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out, clearly trying to stir up courage, Kurt finally asks, "How's Blaine?"

"He's really good. He really loves London. I just got back from visiting him. His play is doing well and he's living with a really good guy." Cooper speaks in such a reassuring manner that must have taken years of practice.

Kurt smiles. "I'm glad. We're friends on Facebook so I see posts by him from time to time. I'm happy that he doing well."

He can't help but feel a little bit bad for Kurt. He knows that his and Blaine's breakup was hard. On both of them. In the end, they both clearly wanted different things and they needed to let go. But, like with all first loves, it was hard to say goodbye.

Cooper smiles. "I'm glad. And I'll be sure to tell Blaine how you're doing the next time we chat."

"Thanks."

"We better be going," he finally interrupts, knowing that if doesn't start to clean his room in the next 15 minutes, he's not gonna get it done. And with his mom coming for a visit in a few days, it better be clean if wants to avoid guilt and a lecture. "Goodbye."

"Bye," remarks Kurt with a wave.

"Wait! Finn!" Cooper hollers, getting the boys attention as they start to stagger off.

"What's up?" he ask, turning back to him.

"I, um, I'm about to start work on a new film," Copper walks closer to him, obviously he wants to keep his voice down for the rest of this, and the small diner is filling up with patrons quickly. "I have a small part in it, but they are still looking to cast one of the leads." Cooper leans in and whispers with excitement. "Its…it's the Channing Tatum Stripper Movie! I'm a bit too old for the part, but you might be perfect for the young kid lured into the world of male stripping."

He can't help but smile. It's almost too ironic. "Honestly," he starts, his smile growing. "I don't think I'm right for the part. But…I think I might know the perfect person."

* * *

At first, Sam was apprehensive. Understandably so. Sam had no intention of ever becoming an actor. Sam came out here to be with Mercedes and become a musician. But, as he explained to him, Sam's romantic relationship with Mercedes has been non-existent since she became a back-up singer for Rihanna. And the fact that Sam was living a disgusting one-bedroom apartment with the two other members of their bad was not lost on him.

"This could be the opportunity of a lifetime," he explained to his blond friend as they set up for their band practice that afternoon.

"But, I didn't come out here to be an actor. I have no desire to do that. Plus, after you and Rachel came and rescued me from Stallionz I promised myself I would never even think about that part of my life again. It's something I'm ashamed of, Finn."

"Look, I realize that, but it could be the opportunity for something amazing. People will want to hear your music if they like you in this. Plus, it could put some money in your pocket so that you don't have to do valet parking at the Beverly Hills Hotel to pay your rent!"

"Hey! That was uncalled for!"

"Look, dude, it's just an audition. Just go and see what happens."

Two days later, he got Sam to the Warner Bros. offices dragging his feet. Sam took a deep breath as he walked in into the small room with a line of people ready to judge him. Once they shut the door, he couldn't hear much except:

"Why do you feel you're good for the part," some person says.

"Because…I'm White Chocolate," Sam replies.

The next day, Sam got the part. He was a good friend and drove Sam to his fitting for his wardrobe fitting right before his mom was due at the airport. (Although he's not really sure what kind of 'wardrobe' is needed for a film about male strippers…)

"Dude, you really need to get your car fixed," he comments as he walks into the wardrobe trailer with him.

"Well, once I get my first paycheck from this, I will be able to," Sam snarks back.

They continue to walk through the racks of clothes looking for the stylist when they hear, "Okay Matthew, we just have one more outfit and then you're out of here."

"Alright, alright," replies a Southern twang. It's so distinctive, they both stop in their tracks.

"_McConaughey..._" Sam murmurs softly with excitement and awe, walking towards the voices.

He took a few steps back and eventually went outside to wait for his buddy. He knew Sam didn't need him anymore. That Sam was going to be okay.

* * *

His mom was visiting this week. As first he was kinda looking forward to it, but then, she arrived. He loved his mom – he truly did – but now with the independence of adulthood, he realized how much he liked doing things himself. Plus, she was a bit of a tourist, and that was totally cramping his style.

Either way, he knew the main reason why she was visiting was because she wanted to see where he worked. Carole Hudson-Hummel had always wanted to see a real movie set. He couldn't blame her. It was pretty cool.

Escorting her around, he moved at a glacial pace as she took pictures every two steps. But her elated grin made it all worth it. That was the mantra he kept telling himself. He knew purposely to have her visit when he was working on the Rita Wilson film because he had a bigger part in it. And it had actors his mom probably knew.

"Finn, I don't live in a cave. I'm well aware who Jennifer Love Hewett is. I watch Lifetime. Also, you were barely speaking in complete sentences when the first _I Don't Know What You Did Last Summer_ came out," Carole lectures.

"Sure, Mom," he obliges.

"Granted, you barely speak in complete sentences now," she muses.

"Hey!" Okay, he might deserve that.

Carole looks at him knowingly and they keep walking around the back halls of the set, passing walls of plywood painted to look like bedrooms and houses on the opposing side. Walking in their direction is his costar John. In the film, he plays John's son and in real life, John has been a real father-figure to him. He knows that he says that about a lot of people, but in the case of John, it is kinda true. Just like it was for Burt, and Mr. Schue, and his mom, and…never mind… Anyway, John was a really cool guy and he definitely took him under his wing.

His mom stops short with a look of awe as John comes closer and into focus. She appears to be shock.

"Hey, Finn," the older man greets. His southern accent dripping from every syllable.

"Hi, John. This is my mother, Carole," he gestures towards his mom.

"Carole," John repeats, extending his right hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Carole looks down towards the ground as she accepts his greeting. Her face is turning redder and redder by the second. She finally speaks. "Hello…John Corbett," Carole shudders. "It s a pleasure to meet you as well. Huge _Northern Exposure_ fan."

John smiles a lopsided grin and Carole's blush deepens. "I'm glad," he replies, letting go of her hand. "I have to go. I hope to see you around later."

Carole lets a high-pitched giggle. "Okay," she squeals as John walks off.

"Are you okay?" he asks, facing his mother, mildly disgusted.

"I'm fine. I'm wonderful," she replies back with a smile that's stretching across her face like the people in the "Black Hole Sun" video.

"Okay. Well, I'll guess I'll show you my trailer now," he says as he leads her off in the opposite direction.

Gross. Now he knows his mom's celebrity crush.

* * *

Sam comes with him to a barbeque that Jennifer Love Hewett is hosting to celebrate wrapping up their film. Even though he had a really small part that he filmed in, like, two weeks, he was still invited and he wasn't about to pass up the opportunity for juicy pulled pork. Sam decided to tag along claiming he wanted to be exposed more to these kinds of actor get-togethers, but he knew Sam was only in on for the free food.

Sam had two more weeks of filming in LA until he was headed to Florida to work on the majority of his big feature film. He thinks Sam is having a hard time adjusting to all this attention, and he knows exactly how that feels, so he lets Sam come to get-togethers like these when he can to ease his nerves.

As the blonde goes off to take a second helping of mac and cheese and Frito pie, his costar Emma Roberts walks over. "Who's Will Hunting?" she asks incredulously.

"Huh?"

"Over there. Your friend with Matt Damon's haircut circa 1997."

"Oh, um, that's Sam. We're in a band together."

"So...what's Sam deal?"

"What do you mean?"

"Single, taken, gay, straight? Details please."

He can't help but smile. "He's straight and he's single, but Sam's still pretty close with his ex. He's had a hard time getting over her after she dumped him. She's a friend of mine too." It occurs to him after saying this that he could easily say that about himself.

"Okay, perfect, he's a little wounded and lonely. What does he do? Besides crash parties he wasn't invited to."

He wasn't sure how much information to give her. It wasn't sure how much Sam wanted to talk about it. "He moved here after school to become a musician, but he just got a role in that upcoming Channing Tatum Stripper movie."

Emma smiles. "Good to know. Steven Soderbergh is directing that, isn't he?"

He had no idea who that was. "Um, sure, I think so."

"Good to know. Good to known," Emma ponders and walks away.

Two days later, he wasn't too surprised when he got a call from Sam notifying him that he had a date with Emma. "She said she was visiting the set because the director is good friends with her aunt," Sam explains over the phone. "She, like, just came up to me and asked me out. It was the coolest thing. I told her I leave in two weeks for Florida to film the remaining parts of the film, but she didn't seem to mind. She seems like a really cool chick. I haven't liked a girl like this since Mercedes, so this means a lot."

"I'm happy for you man. I gotta go, but tell me how everything goes."

"Will do. Later."

"Later."

He wasn't lying. He really was happy for him. And he was also glad not to hear Sam mope about Mercedes all the time.

But, when he went to the studio to help Mercedes as she recorded a hidden track for the Target-exclusive version of her CD, things were not as peachy. He assumed the Diva saw the images of Sam and Emma holding hands as they left In-N-Out Burger that were on some crappy internet celeb blog.

"Did you do this, Lurch?" Mercedes asks, integrating him if he set the young couple up.

"She sought him out herself! And why do you even care? You broke up with him like a year ago!"

"Finn, he's my first love, I will always care."

"Well then let him go. They've been on one date. Who really cares?"

The question was rhetorical, but a few weeks later, according to _Us Magazine_, Emma and Sam were getting "hot and heavy." Apparently there are people, he's not really sure whom, but people who care about Sam's love life. To him it's all good if Sam seems happy. He hasn't really heard from him much, but Sam does surface the night before he's headed to Tampa, when Puck comes to town at the end of June.

"So, Sam, what's it like dating Eric Roberts' daughter?" Puck asks over beers him, Mike, and even Kurt.

"It's not too bad," Sam replies.

"Uh, huh," Puck agrees sarcastically. He then proceeds to start playing on "Mr. Brightside" by the Killers on his iPhone. Kurt tries to hide a laugh behind his Blue Moon bottle.

"What?" Sam asks, frustrated.

"Are you sure Mr. Roberts has taken you aside for a 'Man to Man' talk?" Puck pesters.

Mike and Kurt smile as Sam gets viably flustered. He feels for him. Hell, he dated a girl with _two _dads. But Emma's dad was in _The Expendables _and _Celebrity Rehab_ so it was different.

Sam finally gives in and Puck and Mike light up. "Well, this one time he did kinda scare the crap out of me, but he knows Emma and I aren't that serious, so I'm not too worried."

The all chuckle. He gives him a sympathetic smile. "Is Emma sad that you're leaving tomorrow?"

"As I said," Sam explains, "It's been really causal. We've only been on a handful of dates. But…she says she's gonna visit me while I'm in Tampa."

"That's a great start!" he encourages.

Sam shrugs. "I hope so."

* * *

Preening in the mirror, the wig was great. Fabulous! She now knew she could pull off a pretty awesome bob, if she ever wanted. Sitting here, she knew this was the part she was destined to play. The prefect role. Her calling.

Not Franny, Maria, or Elephba. No. Just her. _Barbra._

When she walked into the recording studio for the first time, she remembers her goose bumps and shivers. Now, in full costume, principle photography in full swing, the nerves have dissipated, but the excitement still exists. Thrives.

Things are too perfect.

Between working on this and on her amazing sitcom… life was good. In place. _Perfect._ To top it all off, she was working on _Glee_, a crazy program; based on a crazy concept itself: Glee Club. It was amazing working on this. Telling the others all the stories of their high school days. Of all the songs, and performances, and romances. All the moments which molded herself into the woman she is today.

When working on their program (which they were _Executive! _Producing), they had set up some ground rules. They were only going to tell Ryan, Ian, and Brad about their romantic relationship when moments came up in the story and not earlier. That was the most important.

Also, of course the names – all the names – were changing. They also needed to find a way to notify their friends near and far.

That was probably going to be the hardest part. _"Hi Artie, I'm glad to hear you're doing well at Berkeley. Oh, by the way, Finn and I are creating a show for FOX about our tales of Glee Club." _That might not go over as well as they had originally anticipated. But it was too late now. And it was too awesome.

She's getting called onto set and she has to go. Butterflies float around her stomach. That's an all day occurrence while she's here. Things were perfect.

* * *

They knew they had to cast the main leads way in advance. They needed to get the ball rolling on this before they went back to work for the sophomore seasons of their shows.

Another rule was they were not going to be at the casting sessions based off themselves, she had to be responsible for finding the perfect Finn; and him, the perfect Rachel. They would not have impute into who they were casting as themselves until the final decisions were made. It would be too weird otherwise. So, now, she was rifling through audition tapes to find Finn.

Or, well, _Conner_, as he's called in the pilot.

After two days in a stark room sitting through cattle-calls, she could not watch another skinny kid, who looked like Zac Efron circa 2006, audition to play a character based off her 6 foot 3, broad, ex-boyfriend. It's not that these kids weren't talented – they definitely were – they just didn't fit the bill and didn't seem to get the humor in his anomaly.

Robert Ulrich, the casting director given the honor of handling this madness, gave her two boxes of tapes of potential candidates for their Conner. It's was now 1 o'clock in the morning, and she wasn't sure if she was still watching these videos because she just wanted this to be over, or because they were so god-awful that they were entertaining.

Then after hundreds of similar faces, a perfect crooked smile appeared.

_Oh!_

"Hi, I'm Cory Monteith and I will be auditioning for the part of Conner."

This boy ran his lines perfectly. Awkward, adorable, and totally Finn.

Then there was this whole section of him playing the drums on Tupperware. Which, really, could not have been _more_ perfect.

But…he didn't sing.

Could he sing? If this boy couldn't, she knew Ryan and the boys would not take him on. Reading the generic resume that came with the video, it said that he was from Vancouver.

Cory from Canada. The Perfect All-American Boy.

She walked into Robert's office the following morning (a little later than she originally planned, but hell, she had been up since one) and handed him the tape. They called Cory's agent and she said he was on his way down.

_What?_

His agent explained that he was driving down to LA, by car, and left the previous afternoon. She and Robert shared shocked expressions as they glanced up from the speakerphone.

It this boy had _any_ vocal talent, in her mind, the part was his.

* * *

He had to audition people to play Rachel. His best friend. It was strange. How can anyone else be someone you're that close to?

Ryan said from the start that he had a candidate in mind; even before their paths crossed with his. A perfect female lead with a voice comparable to Rachel's. He wasn't sure that was quite possible.

The petite brunette walked in wearing a tiny skirt. She had great legs. He read her resume and recognized several of the items on the list. Hit musical _Spring Awakening_ among them. He knew Rachel was disappointed when she had two callbacks for the lead in that play, and still didn't get the part.

Lea Michele kinda looked like Rachel. Similar facial features and brown hair. She came in and started to run her lines. It was a conversation with their Glee Director. Rachel's infamous "Being a Part of Something Special Makes You Special" speech. She was funny. He wasn't sure if she was intentionally being funny, but he was laughing along with everyone else.

"Why are you laughing? That was supposed to be my serious moment," she barks. More hysterics break out.

Robert asks her to sing. She pulls out a binder filled with sheet music and lists the songs she can perform. Ryan insists on a song from _Le Miz_. He's heard Rachel sing every song from this play before. It was one of her favorites.

Her voice is beautiful; filled with grace and poise while she sings. Stage presence even while in the gross white office.

Then…she interrupts herself. "We have to go back to the second verse," she announces as she walks over to Brad the accompanist.

What's going on?

"Excuse me," she apologies. "I have to sing the _entire _song."

Ryan was right. She was perfect for the part.

* * *

Cory was even more adorable in person.

Once again his line reading was above par, but his singing was what put him over the edge.

He blushed a little when he was asked to start and he sang his Billy Joel song tenderly. His voice wasn't as good as Finn's but she knew with some training it could be. Just like when they first started in Glee.

Applause broke out when Cory was finished and he blushed several shades darker. "I don't do that too often," he jokes as he runs his hands through his hair.

In her opinion, Cory was cast. But she knew they had to have the final network audition with everyone a few days later.

* * *

"This is really weird," he explains to Rachel as he sits down next to her.

"What is?" she asks.

"This. Casting someone to play a fictitious version of myself. It's weird. Like right now there are three people in the lobby who look oddly similar to me about to come in and say words I've said myself."

"Yeah, you're right. That is weird."

"So, which guy did you like the most?" he asks, trying to debunk the awkwardness.

She smiles, like she knew he would forget. "Cory. Cory from Canada."

"Okay." He nods in understanding.

And she was right. Cory from Canada was the best candidate. Ryan called him about 30 minutes after he left and the young man proudly accepted the part. He knew he could trust Rachel's choice.

* * *

She purposely got there early. She now very much understood what Finn was talking about when he said this was weird. It was. He said that the final girl auditioning was his favorite. After the first two who were merely mediocre at best, she had a feeling she would agree.

Walking into the casting room, her eyes widened, but she was didn't know why she was surprised. It was, in so many ways, inevitable that this girl had auditioned for this. Even becoming one of the finalists to be suggested.

But… as much as she tried not to admit it…Rachel Berry hated Lea Michele.

Well...maybe 'hate' is too strong of a word. Extremely disliked? Maybe that was better? Either way, she knew exactly why she 'disliked' her so much. It was because they were so similar. They were practically at every audition with one another. Their similar hairstyles and noses at times made them look like sisters.

So in all honesty, it should not be a surprise in the least that she's here. Running in a few minutes late. With scrapes on her arms and glass in her hair.

Wait...glass in her hair?

"Are you okay?" asks Robert with genuine concern.

"I'm fine," Lea replies, pulling some of the shards from her strands and placing them on the folding table.

"What happened?" asks Finn as he was trying to understand all the commotion.

"Um...a car just t-boned my Mini Cooper while I was pulling into the parking lot. I'm okay though," she replies, shaking a little.

"Are you sure you want to audition?" Ryan asks. Everyone was worried for this girl's current state of wellbeing.

"Yes," the girl says with a shake of the head. "I am fine."

"Okay then, let's begin," Robert interjects.

Lea was good. Really good. But she already knew that. This was the part that Lea was perfect for. They only, literally, knew each other all-too-well. It just all seemed too surreal. She knew she had to give her blessing, even though the devil on her shoulder tapped her feet in disgust for doing so.

Lea was elated when they gave her the big news. She silently hoped that the girl had her doubts because she had auditioned to play her real-life biggest threat.

Walking out of the office and down the hall, Finn called out for her to "Wait up!" as he was jogging towards her.

"What's up?" she asks; trying to hide the bittersweet feeling inside.

"Hey," he says and she knows he's about to give one of his patented Finn Hudson Pep Talks. "I know that was hard for you. That she was the chick that beat you out for that _Spring Awakening _thing—"

"As well as countless others," she interjects.

"But, ya know, maybe it's a good thing that you've been each other's competition. This way at least you know for certain that this girl understands what it's like to be you. She can relate to your ups and your downs."

He had a point. She kinda hated that too. Taking a calming breath, she agreed. "I know you're right. It's just…it's hard," she reasoned.

"I know. But really, she definitely was the best person."

"Yeah, she was."

The chick just better appreciate it…

* * *

They had already casted "Conner" but Robert told her that he wanted her to have a look at this kid he asked to come to audition. He had sent in his tape late, but Robert felt he had promise. Were they trying to have back-up? Recast Cory perhaps? She knew this was a more common practice than Hollywood wanted to admit, but she definitely didn't want to break poor Cory's heart.

She agrees to go because she knows, for right now, she needs to walk a careful line keep this show for crashing before it even begins. It was a lot more yes-ing that she was used to.

"S'up? I'm Mark," the cocky boy introduces himself.

He clearly has 'guns' and doesn't mind showing them off as he came to audition dressed in a sleeveless tee and board shorts. He runs the sides for Finn's character with arrogance that really didn't fit the character, but was very entertaining nonetheless.

_Now_ she understands why Robert called her down here.

He plays the guitar and sings a delightful rendition of "La Camisa Negra" by Jaunes. This kid looked about Hispanic as she did, so she had no idea why he chose to sing a song in Spanish (maybe so we wouldn't know when he messed up), but it was still good. Really good.

Mark finishes and they applaud. The ask him to perform the sides for Rabino, the character based off Puck. He looks startled as he takes the paper they hand to him.

"It's okay if you don't know them," she explains politely, trying to calm him down. "Just read the lines off the paper."

He reads his lines well, even with the off-kilter change and Robert asks him to come in for a network audition.

Three seconds into Mark's reading, Finn has a big, goofy grin on his face. They had found Puck.

But…one question still needed to be asked, and Finn was the one to do it. "How would you feel about cutting your hair into a Mohawk?"

Mark looks terrified. Perfect!

* * *

**A/N:** There's more to come. This chapter was just so long; I split it up into two. I hope you are liking it so far. I will have more up ASAP as promise above. Please, please, please review and let me know what you think. Positive or negative. Or if you agree that Chord Overstreet would have been better in _Magic Mike_ than that guy Dianna dated. Let me know! =)


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors Note:** Here is the final installment. I'm sorry it wasn't up yesterday, but you can blame my dentist for that. This story was a true labor of love and I really hope you enjoy it. Please read and review and give any feedback you see fit. I really enjoy this story and I hope you do as well. Thank-you!

**A/N 2:** Edited a little for some typo correction. :)

**Disclaimer: **If I owned _Glee_, Quinn Fabary would have preformed "Criminal" by Fiona Apple during the first 13 episodes.

* * *

He's been working on the Rita Wilson film for a few weeks now, and he's getting a little bored. Movies are much slower going than TV. And even though he has a bigger role in this than his other film, he still has a lot of downtime.

The same cannot be said for Rachel. Every time he talks to her, she's out of breath and about to run off somewhere else. Between filming the movie, she has to do all this music recording. And she said getting into all the make-up and costumes takes awhile as well. Crazy.

Luckily, he has been afforded a few distractions while working on this film. First was _Glee._ That was the tentative title for now, but it was probably changing. He was trying to remember good stories that would make for entertaining moments for a TV series; like when he posted Sue Sylvester's "Physical" video on YouTube. But he was having a harder time remembering than he hoped. He knew Rachel was the better person for that.

Another way to pass the time on set had been all these visitors. It seemed when you worked with famous people, (and when your boss is, like, married to one to the most famous actors ever) people want to stop by and say hello. Really, he couldn't blame them. Some of the people were really cool.

Today's list of passer-bys included his roommate. After he gushed about all the people he was meeting over tacos the other night, Mike insisted he took a gander himself his next day off. Mike was dancing with some famous trope and teaching at an expensive dance conservatory and he wanted to do something fun and interesting for his free time.

He was taking Mike Chang to Craft Services when another guest was spotted. She was talking to John and one of the EP's. Mike's eyes grew big. "_Rusty_," he mused with awe.

Mike had his Flip Cam with him and he doesn't think he's ever seen his Asian friend happier. They decided to play Doofus and Diligent while they kill time.

"Hello I'm Finn Hudson," he starts, looking at the camera.

"And I'm Mike Chang," Mike repeats. "First, we must point out that this is being filmed by Sarah Jessica Parker."

Sarah turns the camera on herself. "Hello," she greets with a saucy voice.

With the camera back on the boys, Mike interjects. "I'm a dancer."

"I'm not," he explains. "But today we are going to invite you to Booty Camp!"

"Wait, wait, wait," Sarah says as she walks up to the iHome and hits play.

The Deniece Williams hit "Let's hear it for the Boys" starts to come out of the speakers and the boys begin to dance. He tries to keep up with Mike Chang and he fails miserably. He also fails at keeping a straight face too. Eventually the laughter rips though them as he pulls Mike towards him by the front of his shirt. "Man, I promised Rachel no fights tonight!" he growls jokingly.

The video ends with Sarah bending over from laughter. They post it on YouTube a few days later. From there, the video goes on every to major entertainment blog with amusing anecdotes commenting on their dancing skills.

The _Vulture_ Blog's headline amuses him the most.

"Oh, Willard!_ Watch Finn Hudson try to keep up with SYTYCD choreographer Mike Chang"_

_As a parody of the iconic _Footloose_ scene, Finn Hudson and Mike Chang invite you to Booty Camp. With Sarah Jessica Parker as the director. _

The comments listed below the blurb are also amusing, as the viewership for the 3 minutes of fun climbs higher and higher in YouTube. He figures this might build the excitement from his and Rachel's show. Hopefully…

* * *

Finn and Rachel wrote some scenes of dialogue for the revamped pilot before they had to headed back to their day jobs. They gave them to him, Brad, and Ian and explained where they wanted these scenes in the episode. They were scenes that were obviously needed to tell their romantic story. And he realizes that he's only going to get a little at a time.

He knows there's stuff that Finn and Rachel are not telling him. That there is much more than meets the eye. He's afraid to pester though – to question further – as it a may stop them from telling him anything at all. They are keeping much of everything private, but ever so often, more secrets are revealed. Hopefully, if they get to write a second episode, more and more will seep out. The wall will crumble. He knows that might be a long shot though.

Either way, he had to admit that the scene at the rehearsal where the Aretha-Diva explains why "she ain't no Kelly Roland" was pretty fucking funny.

* * *

He's back to work on _The Sands_ and things feel different. Like when first move back into the dorms after break. There is a familiarity, but there are also changes, and those feel great too.

Kiernan looks tan as she talks about the few college courses she got to take this summer. Anthony is animated as he discusses his Australian Football team making the finals.

He's different too. He knows he is. Between all the work he did on his movies, his show, and his band, his life has been pretty busy. Pretty full. But in the best possible way. Guess all that juggling around between football, glee, Burt's shop, and appeasing girlfriends was actually preparation for the future.

His and Rachel's show was shaping nicely. They had casted a lot of people, but they still had a long way to go. He knew that it was gonna be harder to find to time to work on the show now that he was back to "regular" work (but then again, is being an actor ever "regular"?)

He knew that his character was getting a love interest this season. It made sense with the story and it was starting to get a little strange that this guy was still hung up on this dead girl. He filmed a few romantic scenes with the chick that played the dead girlfriend last year, but in reality they were far from romantic. That girl was a bitch. And after high school female drama and college female drama; he knew a cool chick from a waste of time, and that girl was definitely in the latter.

The producers told him they had already cast the actress who would be portraying the role, but they were trying to be as tight-lipped as possible. Spoiler whores and all. So, unfortunately for him, he was gonna have to wait for the girl's first day tomorrow to find who the person is. Probably no one of consequence.

* * *

She heads back to New York in early August to work on _Parents & Children_ and she is very glad to be doing so. She was a New Yorker now and it had become home. Plus, living with Kurt had become a pain. She was excited that she didn't need a car to go everywhere. She was excited that she didn't have to wear short-shorts and high heels to look 'professional'. She was excited that she could go back to herself a little bit.

She knows that this summer had brought a lot of changes in her. She grew more than she had in a long time. She was finally starting to notice them as she was sinking back to her everyday routine.

She was excited to start working on her show again. She had butterflies in her stomach as the cab cruised over the 59th Street Bridge and heading into Long Island City. She had no idea what to expect when she got there. She had briefly done a fitting earlier in the week, but she now was going to see a majority of her coworkers for the first time in three months.

As soon as she walked through the door onto their soundstage, Lili wrapped her in her arms and gave her big hug. A motherly hug. "How have you been, Baby Girl?" the redhead asks with curiosity and joy.

She can't stop the grin growing her face. "I've been wonderful," she replies nostalgically. It was so heartwarming for her to know that her fictional family was in so many ways a real family as well.

"I'm glad. You look good girl. You've changed," Lili muses.

"I have," she concurs.

Lili wraps her arm around her shoulders and starts to lead her towards the breakfast table as they chat.

"So, I saw the press release about you and Finn Hudson creating a musical TV show," Lili inquires. "Are you and your cute boy really doing that?'"

"First off, he's not _my_ boy and second, yes, Finn and I are working on this show together. I don't really know what to call it. It's a show about the drama of high school, but it has musical numbers. It's weird. But FOX is backing it. Supporting it. They seem excited as well. It's so strange. Finn and I are EP's and that's really cool too. Calling the shots. I can't even wrap my head around it." She was shaking a little with excitement as she spoke.

"Awww. I'm so happy for you, Baby Girl. You know, I know songs all about high school pain. Heartache. What it feels to have boy invade your soul…" Lili muses joking.

She smiles. "Don't worry, that'll never be me. That'll never be me. That'll never, never be me. No."

Lili chuckles in response. "Joe lies. Joe lies. When he cries," Lili sings.

"When he cries," she adds and the end in unison. Smiling.

* * *

Okay, so, never in a million years (or maybe more) did he ever think the female cast to play his possible fictional girlfriend actually be someone he knew. Or, as the case may be, a personal, real-life celebrity crush.

Once he saw her, he couldn't look away.

Aimee Teegarden.

Julie Freakin' Taylor.

Were you freakin' kidding?

He didn't know what to do. He wasn't really someone who had a ton of fantasies about out-of-touch women. In so many ways, it was better to think about real people. But Julie Taylor was one of the few exceptions. He knew it was because she was this beautiful, smart, perfect, fictional character (with the greatest parents, like, _ever_) but he knew Julie wasn't real and never thought he would meet the actress who portrayed his fictional crush. Yet, there she sat, at craft services eating breakfast with a cup of coffee.

He knew nothing about Aimee as an actual person; which was another source of issues. He could talk about _Friday Night Lights_ till the cows came home, but would she want to talk about that? Did she even care? Would she get upset that he was associating herself with a character she played on TV? (Now being on a TV series, he knew it was hard for people to separate the real actor with the fake persona.) He was flustered and really had no idea what to do. He had a feeling they were going to be filming some passionate and potentially awesome stuff, and he knew getting to know her a little beforehand would be best, but he was, like, _nervous_. It was like asking a girl you liked out on a date for the first time; however all he was really doing was trying to figure out if he should get some cereal.

"Hi," He breaths, getting her attention.

She looks at him and smile. "Hi. Would you like to sit down?" She moves her coffee cup to make room.

He decided to go for it. "Well, I would sit her, but I was the quarterback of my high school football team, so I'm really sure I'm allowed."

She giggles. "Ha! Well, I make an exception for quarterbacks. Please, sit," she requests as she gestures to the seat opposite from her.

He sits, takes a big spoonful of Cheerios, and smiles.

Right when he was expecting an awkward silence to set in, Aimee asks, "Were you really the quarterback of your high school football team?"

"Letterman jacket and all…" She smiles. "I'm actually producing this show that's gonna kinda be about that. But were still in very beginning stages."

"Oh, yeah, I heard about that. That's the musical-show, right?"

"Um, yeah, there will be music. We're not really sure what to call it just yet. It's cool, though. It's different."

"That's awesome."

"So, are the roomers true about a _Friday Night Lights_ movie?"

"I don't know. I hope so. I would love that. But at the same time… the ending was so good… I would be fine if it just stayed as it is, ya know?"

"Definitely."

She was a cool chick. Really cool. He didn't know what to make of it.

A few weeks after they are shooting, Aimee asks if he wants to go out sometime.

"Um…" he hesitantly responds.

"I was thinking we could go to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles and then to a movie," Aimee explains.

"Uh, well…" he stutters.

"Oh, my god! You have a girlfriend. I'm so sorry!" she apologizes, jumping to conclusions.

"I don't have a girlfriend!" He says louder than he intended. "I…just…well…it's complicated." Aimee nods and he elaborates. "Honestly, I'm not dating anyone, but a good friend of mine and I are…well, we used to date, but we're not anymore. But we're like still close and it's like I'm cheating on her, when in actuality I'm not. And even though I would really like to go you out with you, I'm still not sure. I don't want to hurt my friend either."

Aimee nods. "That is complicated."

"Yeah. I'm sorry." And then he mumbles under his breath, "You have no idea how sorry."

"Hey, how about this?" she perks up. "We just go out as friends and if we both feel something more we explore it a little. And if we're just better off as friends, we remain friends."

He nods. It's a pretty decent agreement. "Okay. I could be down with that. We get out of filming early on Friday. We can go then."

"Sounds good," Aimee agrees.

"Sounds good."

* * *

She knew that they were planning on breaking her and Ezra's characters up. They had 22 episodes to fill and they needed to add some drama. It was hard filming the scenes between her and Ezra for this story. When she thought of working with Ezra, she thought of smiles and laughter. That was not what this was and it broke her heart.

And, as much as she hated to admit it, she knew that this was reminding her of Finn. It brought back memories that she hated to think about. Unfortunately, she was aware that if those memories didn't exist, neither of them would be where they are today.

* * *

_He was on his way up the stairs. _

_She could feel him. The tether pulling closer._

_And now as he was getting closer – probably half a flight to go – she could hear him as well. Thin walls._

_She was going to have to explain herself. What she had done. What she wanted. She couldn't stop the tears that were forming as hard as she tired. But they could not fall. Not yet._

_She opened the door and there he was, about a yard away. He runs to her and grabs her neck with both his hands. Pulling her into a passionate kiss. It's intense and sexy and wonderful; and it fills her with sadness. _

_They decided six months earlier to try. To try to make their relationship work despite the distance. That they truly wanted to be together and had to work things out. They were heading into their sophomore year of college and more mature. They had both grown up so much._

_That was before she did what she did. Before she broke them. And he didn't even know._

_He finally pulls away, his hands still attached firmly to her neck, and looks down at her with joy. It's killing her._

"_Surprise!" he says, his crooked grin showing off his dimples._

_She giggles out of nervousness. Gosh, he really is beautiful._

"_Happy Birthday," he murmurs softly, capturing her mouth with his again._

_He lifts her and wraps her legs around his waist. She can feel against her calf that there's a glass bottle of something inside his knapsack. Their lips still attached he carries her inside. She holds on tight and he closes the door and turns the padlock. _

_He places her onto the mattress, the covers soft against her back, as her chest heaves up and down, gasping for air. He looks down at her adoringly, full of love and lust, as he drops his bag and drapes his body over hers. He seizes her mouth again. She succumbs to the distraction wishing this moment could last forever. _

_His hands caress her waist as she asks, "I thought you had your last final today?"_

"_I lied. It was yesterday," he replies. His boyish grin spreading across his face. "This is a much better way to spend a Wednesday."_

_She giggles again. "Agreed."_

_They make love gently. Sweetly. Slowly. She drifts off to a sound sleep with the winter sun shining brightly through her window. _

_She awakes to see the sun waning down to set. He's nowhere to be found. She's definitely naked, so this afternoon definitely happened, but where did he go? Does he know? Can he hear the thoughts screaming in her head?_

_She pulls on some PJ's (his old football shirt and a pair of clean panties) and peeks out into the foyer/living room/kitchen to look for him. On the counter there is a note informing her that she was too peaceful to wake and that he went to get her another surprise and would be back soon. _

_Great. Another surprise she didn't deserve._

A Charlie Brown Christmas_ is a welcome distraction before he emerges with two big Whole Foods shopping bags. This is breaking her heart more and more by the second. _

"_So I figured, since you would give me a lecture about staying out late on a weeknight," he explains as he places the bags on the counter. "I thought we could have a fabulous organic, vegan dinner **in **to celebrate you becoming one year older. Sound good?"_

_She walks up to him and he grabs her waist; pulling her close. "Sounds wonderful," she agrees, because it does. _

_He leans down and sneaks a kiss. "I love you."_

"_I love you," she repeats. Oh, no._

_He got all her favorites; including vegan whoopee pies and a bottle of Riesling he snagged from Puck. Her plate is clean as she downs the last sip of wine in her glass._

_She has to tell him. She has to tell him now._

"_Finn we have to break up," she says in an even tone, looking at his chest._

"_What?" he asks, almost with a laugh. She can tell he's slightly dazed from the wine._

"_I have feelings for someone else. I have for a little while now." She meets his gaze. He looks at her scared as she continues. "You don't know him. He's not Jesse or anybody, I promise. He's this guy Ryan who I did a play with earlier in the semester. I've had a crush on him for a few months and then we were hanging out at a bar last week and we kissed. I have feelings for him and I want to explore them." _

_She doesn't realize she was rambling until she's done._

_He looks devastated. His jaw slack and his shoulders rising up and down in breaths trying to calm him down. "You're breaking up with me?" he croaks out._

"_Yes," she breaths before the tears well up again. She lets them fall this time._

"_But…but…we just made love. You just told me you loved me. We…we…," he trails off. He's rationalizing everything._

_His breaths get heavier and heavier. He looks so confused. She's confused too._

"_I'm so sorry, Finn," she says before she gabs him and pulls him into a long hug. _

_He accepts her embrace and they remain like that for a long time. Forever. Loosing concept of time. _

_He left the next morning. She finds out from Kurt on Saturday, at her Birthday Celebration Brunch, that Finn was planning to stay until the end of the weekend so they could go back to Lima together on Monday for the holidays. _

* * *

It was three months until he spoke to her in more than pleasantries (when they shared awkward moments due to mutual friends). He called her while they were both home for Spring Break and admitted that he missed her as a friend. She missed their friendship too. She had been seeing Ryan casually and found out that he had been on a few dates in Chicago as well. They had grown up and were moving on.

She was trying to memorize her lines and had to remember that she and Finn we're still able to remain friends and that they were okay now. It's hard, but she makes it through the Big Breakup scene with Ezra; knowing that she was performing fiction, and that the reality that she was reminded of still had a happy ending. That she was happy with where her and Finn were right now.

* * *

His _not-_date with Aimee feels great. And he feels really bad about that. He likes Aimee, but he doesn't want to date her. He feels this pull to Rachel. He doesn't want to hurt her. He explains this to Aimee, even being honest that he's talking about Rachel specifically, and she's more than understanding.

"You're lucky Finn," she says when they're on their lunch break. "A lot of people wait their whole lives to have love that is as transcending as yours and Rachel's. God knows I am…"

"Thank-you. Ya, know, for understanding. And, for silently agreeing not to tell anyone about my past with Rachel."

She smiles and nods in that way Julie Taylor would when she was agreeing to something with her parents. "No problem."

He gets up toss his tray and before he goes he says to Aimee, "You'll have it. A special, important love. You're too wonderful and kind of a person not to have that at some point. You deserve it."

Her facial expression is bittersweet and he's afraid to ask why. "Thank-you, Finn," she replies and he walks off. He feels certain that he and Aimee will be friends for life.

* * *

He knew that the hardest part to cast was a person to represent Kurt. He had met Kurt briefly at meeting that Finn brought him to. He was so excited to dig deep into this character's emotional depth. He also knew that Brad would be able to write the hell of some amazing scenes between this kid and his father.

The boy walked in with a messenger bag around across his chest and announced that he was auditioning for the role of the boy in the wheelchair. He had no idea why; the young man was clearly perfect for the fashionable gay sidekick. Chris Colfer. Even the alliterated name made him cute. It was a bigger role, and he was clearly an unknown, was that why he didn't go for it?

This kid has to have been in a production of _The Sound of Music, _and he couldn't help but ask_._

"Oh, I have Von Trap written all over me," sweet-faced Chris replied.

He was just out of highs school and could hit soprano notes. He was perfect.

He insisted that Rachel fly back to LA, and that Finn to be in attendance as well, for this young man's network test. He ran the lines perfectly and the room loved him. They had found their Kurt.

Although they still needed to come up with another name for the character…

* * *

Putting together the remaining cast was difficult as times, but with Robert's expertise, they were able assemble a really wonderful team. The last minute find of Dianna Agron as Stacy – the perfect blond cheerleader named after another member of The Fashion Club – was a testament to how great Robert was at his job. And getting to sit through Matthew Morrison sing "Somewhere over the Rainbow" with the ukulele at his audition was just a thrill for her life. (She totally had a crush on since he was in _Hairspray._)

They were finally able to start filming the pilot right before the holidays, while she and Finn were on break from their TV shows. The cast were all so excited. The adorable Naya Rivera was just delighted to get a shot on camera in the first episode. (Little did she know who her character would become.) Getting Jane Lynch to do a special guest spot was great as well. Everyone would just watch her in awe. She was so talented.

The dailies would return from the network with positive and negative feedback. They loved 'Pitching Ahead,' the rag-tag group of kids on their rise to greatness. But, Ian insisted they needed to come up with a more cleaver double-entrada name for the glee club. All three older gentlemen figured that if FOX was letting them be dirty and push boundaries, they were going to milk if for all it's worth. Hence the names on the boy's glee club sing up sheet.

Poor Mike, who signed up to choreograph these ragamuffins, really had his hands full during dance boot camp. He was convinced Kevin, who was portraying Sweet Sammy in the wheelchair, was his best dancer. Even funnier was, when they were filming "Don't Stop Belivin'" Brad, got on the megaphone and announced, "Kevin, stop tapping your foot to the beat."

The network said they would probably be able to start running test audiences by Late-January. They knew that they needed to start getting more episodes written soon if the show was granted a pick-up because of all the prep time needed.

They knew that the next big moment to come up when they were in glee was the whole Celibacy Club/Push It/Kiss on the Stage debacle. They both seemed nervous to talk about what went down that those days, let alone put it on paper. They sat in Finn's living room in silence, tapping pens to notebooks.

"How about this," she suggested. "We each go and write out sides of the stories that happened during that week and then we come back in share them."

"That could work," he agreed.

"Okay, so you go into your room and I'll stay here and we'll read each other's sections during lunch."

"Sounds good."

Biting into her peanut butter sandwich, she thinks she should have reconsidered this decision.

"That's why you left?" She questions, barging into the kitchen as he waits for the microwave. Clenching the pages in her hands "_That's _why you left?" she barks again, hitting him with the rolled up paper.

"Ow!" he hollers back. "Yes, that why I left. Now you know why I was embarrassed to talk about it."

"You could have just told me!" Her voice still rose.

"Oh, yeah, that would go over well. 'Hey Rachel, you're wearing the shortest shirt ever and I'm lying on top of you. And it's making me aroused and I have a problem where come early, so now I have to go before I shoot a load in my pants.' Are you nuts?"

"I would have found it flattering." She determined to hold her ground on this one.

"No, you wouldn't," he rebuts. "And anyways, I was trying to impress you, and I knew that would totally turn you off."

He had a point. But she picked this fight and she was going to win. "Well…you certainly didn't have problem telling Quinn."

"How did you know that?"

"Oh please, we all know how Quinn convinced you that Beth was yours. I just didn't know it was an actual problem you had."

"Well, luckily, after two years of off-again/on-again dating with you, I was able to keep my hormones a little more in check."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Um…uh…" She had him where she wanted him. A loss for words, but she wasn't sure that in this case it was the best place.

"Ugh!" she groaned and hit him again with the paper in her fist.

"Hey!" he called out as she marched away.

This was just the tip of the iceberg. This was going to be harder than she thought.

* * *

The test audience LOVED IT!

When he, Rachel, Ryan, Brad, and Ian all met with the network for the final outlook, none of them predicted it to be this good. He tried to make the smile on his face as small as possible, but it just wasn't working. The network agreed to begin production right away on the remaining 12 episodes to get a head start.

The kicker was when FOX asked if they could present the pilot early after the finale of _American Idol_ as a special presentation to kick off the show.

"Yes!" the replied in unison.

He has a feeling that the show is a little more special that he originally thought when he finds several members of the cast and crew of _The Sands_ joining him in his trailer while watching the dailies he's sent. Rachel tells him one day on the phone that the cast of her show does the same.

He has fun working with the cast. They are all so full of life that he gets entertained watching them off-camera as well. It's a little bittersweet because he has more opportunities to be with them than Rachel does. A lot of the cast members are close to his and Rachel's age, but they respect the fact that they are their bosses. That's really nice too. He also likes watching them squirm when he gives them hints about what's to come.

Walking up to Dianna after filming the infamous balloon-pop, he uses all his resources as an actor to keep his face stoic. "Oh, and by the way," he explains. "You get pregnant."

Her eyes widen and her face lights up. "Of course she gets pregnant!" Dianna agrees.

He walks off before she asks more questions and he caves in giving them to her.

They release a two-minute long trailer on the FOX website; as well as several commercials that play during all the network's hits, saying the show was 'coming soon'. (They were all directed to be really witty and politically incorrect, like tone of the show.) He feels really proud when a teaser, which announces him and Rachel as two of the creators, plays during the first break of _The Sands'_ most recent episode. He was sitting on the couch having a couple beers with Mike. This episode had a big twist that he knew would drive fans crazy. The show _was _about to go on break before May sweeps after all.

A few days later, Kristen Dos Santos shows up to dig up dirt on what will happen next. He's charming and smiles a lot while giving her hints, but not saying too much.

"So, new topic, besides your sister's kidnapping," Kristen segues. "I noticed your Journey t-shirt and I have to tell you, one the reasons I'm here is to ask about _Glee_."

"Okay. Let's go!"

"Now, I have to admit, I think I've watched the 2-minute trailer on YouTube…about a hundred times."

"Oh, so you're the one!"

Kristen giggles. "I'm the one! But, in all seriousness, what exactly is it? Is it a teen drama? Is it a comedy? Does it have music? I'm a little confused myself."

"Well… it does have music. And don't really know it there's a genera for it. I mean it's a one-hour show, but it has both dramatic moments and really comedic moments so it's hard to find one mold for it just yet."

"Well, I must admit, I'm very excited."

"I'm glad. You should stop by the _Glee_ set and hang out with the Gleeks."

"Gleeks? Oh, is that a word now? Is that a _thing_?"

Opps. "Well, I guess it is now!" he agrees.

Kristen does stop by while the kids are filming one of the remaining scenes left of the third episode. Videos of her interviews with the bright, young cast make it onto her page at _E! Online_ a few days later. They are all sweet and energetic as they explain that the show is filmed out of order a little due to the large production numbers. They talk about the how close they have all gotten due to the long hours and how they enjoy each other company.

Kristen gets Lea and Cory together for a discussion about their leading roles.

"Now I guess it's safe to assume that your characters are based off Finn Hudson and Rachel Berry," Kristen says.

The two kids look nervous as they try to find a way to diplomatically answer the question. "I don't know if we're allowed to tell you that. And to some extent we're not even sure," Lea responds.

Cory intervenes. "Yeah, but also I think, it's pretty obvious." He gestures between himself and Lea.

All three laugh and they finally get comfortable. "How involved are Finn and Rachel?" Kristen asks.

"Very," Cory replies. "They are on the set as much as they can."

"And we know they also give feedback on the dailies they watch," Lea adds.

"What funny," Cory explains. "Is that we know that all the characters are somewhat based off people they know or went to school with or whatever else. So when they're on the set, they are very observant. They are very quiet and watch us intently. Occasionally they will ask us to do something differently, but most of the time they are very serious. They tend to always have smiles on their faces, so we guess we're doing something right."

"I'm sure you are," Kristen reassures.

The interview carries on a little longer before the final response. "It's been the most amazing time," Lea says, wrapping things up. "I never thought a TV show this brave and different would make it onto air, and as someone who simply watches TV, I'm excited to know this show even exists. It's the greatest feeling."

"Definitely agreed," say Cory before the video goes to black.

There's buzz. Buzz is good.

* * *

Along with the buzz, the network gets even more excited. The night before the big post_-Idol_ preview, FOX decides to rent out the Santa Monica High amphitheater for a big preview party and Q&A. There's lots of press and the young cast all gets their pictures taken.

She and Finn decide to go together. They've been very united this whole time, but now that there is a lot of press curious as to what _Glee_ is all about. She knew unity was most important now.

When they exit the vehicle, she's overwhelmed by the grandeur. She and Finn never got anything close to this for either of their shows and those were _still_ two of the strongest on the network. But this…was insane.

Walking the concrete carpet, as Cute Cory calls it, they remain close, but not touching as Korbi Gosh from the TV blog _Give Me My Remote_ calls them over. They encircle each other's waists so they can get into her shot together. He pulls her close. He smells of soap and Finn and it's wonderful. She can't get too distracted though. They had work to do.

"So, how much of the show is based off your lives? Or, off real stories?" Korbi asks. It's the question she knows that they will be constantly be answering.

"More than we'll ever admit to," she replies, because it's true. And really, who's gonna actually believe they actually performed ''Push It" in front of their entire school while grinding up against one another?

Korbi laughs. "Good to know. I'll let you get on your way now."

"Thank-you," Finn adds before they head off.

The audience gives the show a very positive response. There's laughter, and joy, and…glee! She, Finn, and the cast are invited up onto the stage with Brad and Ian to talk about the program. The cast all share the mishap stories of the auditions and one adorable girl, couldn't had been older than fourteen, asked the boys if they had girlfriends. They all said they were single, but she knew that wasn't true.

The only worthwhile question actually came from the panelist who asked how this all came about and where they came up with the crazy stories incorporated with this program.

She starts. "Well, I had been sitting in an office at the FOX network building waiting for a meeting to start when I literally overheard Kevin Riley talking about how Ryan Murphy wanted to make a show about glee clubs. I immediately freaked out and went to find Finn who was in another part of the building and told him what I just heard."

"She barged into my meeting," Finn adds." And then we ran down the stairs and all over the building looking for Ryan. We actually caught up with him in the parking lot and begged him to set up a meeting." The audience laughs.

She tells more. "He gave us his card and we noticed that his e-mail address was on it. We went back to Finn's apartment and looked for every video we had of our glee club performing. We sent them all to him, plus much more, and pretty much blew up his inbox."

"It's because of this reason that Ryan no longer has his e-mail on his business cards," Brad interjects and laughter erupts again.

"But it was in watching the videos that we knew that the songs were telling their stores. Expressing how they felt. Songs about love, life, and overcoming adversary. It was addicting," Ian explains.

Brad elaborates, "Then after meeting with Finn and Rachel, we knew that we definitely had stories from their high school days that we wanted to tell, but we also knew that there was stuff that need more elaboration, so…we sent Ian to their Midwestern high school." More laughter from the audience.

"True story," Ian adds. "I told them that I worked for the state education department, which everyone at the school totally believed, and that I wanted to know more about their activities. I got to go to football and cheerleading practices. I got to meet several members of the community. And I got to watch their glee club perform as well. That visit gave me material for years!"

The crowd cheers again. And that's when she realizes that it's not just the show people are interested in. Not just the program they see on TV. But so much more. The production, the stories behind what's on screen, the behind-the-scenes moments that are only discussed by superfans of most programs…_this_ will be just as important to everyone watching this show as the moments that air.

This was so beyond anything else on television before that it was going to change everything after it. She finally understood how important this was all going to be for the first time. That she and Finn would be required to open up about their past, because now, it was also their present. Not just to Bran, Ryan, and Ian, but to the world.

The following week proves her theory correct when they all attend the 2018 Upfronts in New York City.

And she thought her and Finn's upfront presentation was big?

Ha!

The cheerleaders' doing routines and pyramids was just a start to the commotion. This show, these kids, they were _stars!_

So much so, that her copy of_ New York Magazine_ the following week already criticized the hype around _Glee_ as too much. In her mind, there was never too much network support.

* * *

The show's early summer premier goes splendidly. It gets over nine million viewers, keeping half of the _Idol_ finale's audience. Then, with the Upfronts, the buzz gets louder. Much louder.

While filming the 12th episode of the season, he and Rachel approach Ryan about their idea. He's talking to the director and doesn't really seem in the mood for jibber-jabber.

"Hi Ryan," Rachel says with mustered up courage. "We have an idea for you." They were both so nervous.

"Yes," Ryan replies, hiding annoyance.

"Rachel and I have idea to a single-artist episode. And this is a big single artist, but we know what we want to do, we know how to write this episode, and we know it will work," he explains.

"Who?" He know he's want them to make this quick.

"Madonna," Rachel replies with awe.

Ryan's face lights up; his annoyance fades and he looks excited. He feels proud that they were able to do that. Rachel's beaming. "I'll try to get the rights to her songs. I have an idea on how to approach that," Ryan explains.

"And we want to write this episode," Rachel interjects. "As Finn said, we know what to write, we know what will work, and we really want to tell this story."

An evil grin grows on Ryan's face. He thinks he knows what they're gonna write, but he doesn't even know the half of it. "Okay…" Ryan agrees with curiosity.

"Okay," he repeats back and him and Rachel scamper off before anymore can happen. They were standing on a cracking floor, hoping not to fall.

* * *

Kurt moved into a bigger place, so she's been able to live with him when she's on the West Cost. She's been helping with the rent.

While spending her summer in LA working on _Glee_ (and filming a bit part in a Nancy Myers film), she gets asked by Lili to a party of some of her friends. She agrees because she needs a distraction. She's been trying to get a surprise together for the _Glee_ kids and it's been much harder than she thought.

At the party there are some Indy-Film actors she recognizes and a several people she doesn't know, but apparently 'work' in the business. Lili grabs her forearm and notifies her that there is someone she wants her to meet.

Following Lili, she finds herself standing in front of a familiar face.

"Rachel," Lili gestures between them "I would like for you to meet my good friend, Eric Stoltz." Gesturing again Lili continues, "Eric, Rachel."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," the red-haired actor says while extending his hand.

She accepts and replies. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well."

"You're working on that new show _Glee_, right? I saw the first episode. It's very entertaining."

She feels the pride glow inside her. "Yeah, it's been wonderful." She hears someone call Lili's name and her companion walks off. "So what projects have you been working on?" she asks, making small talk.

"Well, recently I've been doing a lot of directing," Eric explains. The conversation carries on a little while longer and he gives her praise on the show. It feels nice.

* * *

The surprise she's planning for the cast comes together perfectly right before the Independence Day holiday. It's a tense day on set, as they are filming the big baby-daddy-reveal-choir-room-fist-fight scene. They were filming right now as she went to go find her cohort.

The first guest to arrive she hasn't seen in a long time. They had lost touch in college, even though they were in close proximity. She looks the same, but older. Much more poised and professional. Then again, she could easily say the same things about herself. They walk up to one another and silently analyze each other.

"Hi, Quinn," she greets her.

"Lucy," the blond corrects.

"Lucy," she repeats in understanding. "Follow me," she gestures as she escorts Lucy onto the set.

They walk for a while in an awkward silence. This might be harder than she thought.

"So, what brought on the change?" she finally asks.

"I grew up," Lucy replies. She smiles. "You look good, Rachel," Lucy complements.

"You do too," she reciprocates.

They walk along a little further and wind up on the "hallway" set. They hear Brad Falchuk yell "Cut!" and see Dianna emerge through the choir room door. Tears are in her eyes and she's obviously trying to calm herself down from the previous take. The cast all make fun of her for being the blubbery one.

Quinn (Lucy?) stops dead in her tracks as stands in awe of the girl looking just like her, with a fake pregnant belly. Dianna looks up and sees Lucy and smiles through her tears. Lucy marches up to the blonde in costume and takes her in her arms. More crying ensues. She gets a text from Sam and Mercedes and heads off; giving the women a moment alone.

They pile the cast into vans take them to the school in Long Beach where they film the auditorium scenes. There's a raring-to-go energy as the former members of New Directions wait backstage. (Or, well, as many as she could get. Blaine was still in London and Lauren, Sugar, and two guys they added on her senior year weren't interested.)

When they emerged on stage, applause broke out and they began the "Da, da, da." When Finn turned around to sing the first lyrics, the cheering of the twelve people in front of her increased exponentially. And "Don't Stop" was just the tip of the iceberg.

They had quickly come up with a moving set list which included "Dog Days are Over," "To Sir, with Love," "Born this Way," the "Unpretty/I Feel Pretty" mash-up, and culminating with "Somebody to Love." They also sang a few others they just felt like throwing in.

The cast watched them with joy and awe. And to be honest, she was surprised herself how good they sounded together after all these years. Of course they knew Mike Chang, but it was the most wonderful thing to watch all their friends meet their fictional alter-egos. She saw Kevin and Artie have a nice chat and witnessed (and heard) Amber's epic freak-out when she realized her character was based off Mercedes Jones.

Overall… this was one of the best days of her life.

Okay… that feeling was _partially_ because after all this was over, she was headed home to get ready for the big red carpet premier of the Barbra bio-pic.

* * *

The cast all gush about the show in several (_several_) interviews. Those kids were running around like chickens with their heads cut off. _He_ even felt the mall tour coming up is a little much, but the Glee Club seems up for it, so who knows?

The _Comic Con_ panel goes particularly well when Dianna discusses the gilt she gets from her Jewish grandmother about wearing a cross on TV.

The panelist asks a few questions to him and Rachel, but only one isn't completely vapid. "Rachel, did you, or your friends, perform all the songs represented on the show?"

"Some definitely," she begins. "But then there are moments when I may have sung a song that was popular when I was sophomore in high school in 2009 which may not really fit now. We try to have a really good mix of well-known songs and big surprises, so lots of the song choices have started as one thing our club may have preformed, and have emerged as something else."

"It's probably one of the most interesting processes of the show," he elaborates.

"Oh, yeah," Rachel concurs.

During the panel he does get a few questions about his show which he's pretty surprised about.

He's been stretched a little thin, as he's had a big summer. Between the big finale of _The Sands _that was still discussed at nauseam on the _Television Without Pity_ forums (those people really needed to get out more); both the movies he filmed last summer coming out weeks apart from each other; and working on _Glee_. He's stressed.

Plus, because everyone's talking about Sam and his Stripper Movie, their band has been playing a lot more gigs and they recorded an EP to sell at their shows. It's been a long summer.

The cast goes through the same bandwagon if promotion that he and Rachel had a few years earlier, but this is this a much more excessive level. The mall tour being a pinnacle. It vaguely occurs to him that it's likely the _Glee_ cast will become more famous then he and Rachel are. (Especially given the amount of iTunes downloads for "Don't Stop Believin'".) But that doesn't really bother him too much, because that's not why he became an actor.

He had a feeling it might bother Rachel though…

He and Rachel get called into Ryan's office while watching a rough cut of "Vitamin D" (or as they knew it, the mash-up episode).

"Well, I just got word from the woman herself. All of Madge's music is yours if you want it." Ryan says this nonchalantly, trying to act like it's no big deal.

"YES!" Rachel cheers, clasping her hands together.

He had to admit he was pretty excited himself.

They had to get to work right away. They lock themselves in his apartment until they've written the shit out of it. He still didn't understand all the lingo of screenwriting, but he knew that his and Rachel's never ending fodder could lead to hours upon hours of dialogue for their little program.

They knew they needed this written before they headed back to production of their own shows the following week. (The network was trying to have all their Fall Season Premiers earlier than usual, which meant a shorter summer for him and Rachel.)

Thankfully Mike was working non-stop on _So You Think You Can Dance_, so Rachel didn't feel self-conscious talking about what would transpire in this episode. (And, okay, himself too.)

They get up to writing the conversation that happened between them at the piano – the second conversation – and they're both as tense as they were at sixteen.

"So you think the sideswipes work the best here to tell was really went down?" he asks; just wanting to move on.

"Yeah. Absolutely," Rachel concurs. It's quiet for a little while longer as the memories keep replaying. She asks, "Do you regret it?"

"Regret what?"

"Sleeping with Santana. Losing your 'Finnocence' to her?"

"For a really long time I did."

"What made it stop?"

"I got to have you," he admits.

"Finn, you don't need to impress me," she rebuffs, shaking her head.

"I'm not. I hated the fact that Santana took that from me. That I shared something so intimate with someone whom I can barely stand to be around most of the time. And then you told me you didn't sleep with Jesse and you found out what actually happened in such a horrible way, and then when we broke-up, and then the feeling was, like, a million times worse. And I… just wished more than anything that I could take it back. For you… for Quinn… for myself.

But then, we forgave each other for our mistakes. We moved on and grew up. And I knew I had you, and then it didn't matter that I had shared that with someone I didn't want to, because I knew, _eventually_, I would get to experience it with someone I love."

She looks at him with wonder as his heartfelt confession hangs in the space between them. _This_ is why he told her he loved her only seconds before performing. To avoid this.

Now, he was hanging out there, like **way** out there, and she wasn't doing, like, _anything_. Just looking at him.

Then, she does something **big**.

She grabs his face and kisses him. Hard. He loved when Rachel Berry kissed like this.

She pulls away from him, out of breath. "Make love to me. Please," she requests.

And really who was he to deny his Love? "Well, we are on the living room floor…"

He goes to get some pillow and blankets; and when he returns, she walks right up to him, and pulls him close. She was ready. She wanted this. He wanted it too.

It was the first time they had done that together in years, and they both had obviously learned a few tricks while apart.

Lying next to one another, their breathing was heavy. That was fun!

"Ya, know, we could do it again…" he suggests.

"Or… you could picture ramming a station wagon into a mailman," she replies.

He laughs and rolls himself on top of her. "I like my suggestion better."

"Me too."

When the second round was done, he Rachel curled up next to him. She looked sated and blissful. He wished he could hold this moment in a jar to preserve it forever.

He thinks she's fallen asleep when she murmurs, "Do you think we'll ever get it together? That we'll ever be together in our own happy ending?"

Her voice is barely above a whisper and he had no idea what to say. He decides to go with his heart. "I do. I love you. What…what do you think?" He was terrified of hearing her answer.

He feels her smile against his chest. "Maybe not right now, but soon. I'm not opposed to wearing your ring again." She kisses his chest.

He smiles and repeats, "I love you," hoping that she will reciprocate.

"I love you, too" she says back and he sees her eyes shutting; knowing she can't fight slumber anymore.

* * *

After more TV promotion than she's ever seen in her life, the show _finally _airs its second episode. The ratings dip, but are still considerably strong. The music downloads; however, prove that the show does have an audience; as "Push It" climbs up the charts.

By the third episode of the season, the show has a Back-9 pickup. YAY! The cast is thrilled, she's thrilled, and Finn's thrilled too.

Her, and The Boys, originally planned to wait until Ryan was done filming some Julia Roberts movie before the show began production again. But, with the anticipation for more episodes increasing by the second, they knew they couldn't do that. They had already written a handful of the episodes and they had the music rights, so why not get started?

They scheduled to be back to filming by Mid-October. She was getting tired with all the running around between _Glee _and _Parents and Children._ Flying across the country once a month was more than enough. Luckily, with Finn being in LA, she knew he would keep an eye on things.

The press kept asking if there was going to be a single-artist tribute episode and the _Glee_ kids kept being coy about it as well.

"We keep hearing that too, but we haven't gotten any of the new scripts yet," explained Lea on to a reporter, who asked at the premier of some movie based off a book series she had yet to read.

"When do you begin filming again?" the reporter asks.

"I had a fitting yesterday and we start dance rehearsals on Monday. Filming begins a few days after that. I'm excited to know what happens too!" Lea gloats.

The cast all supposedly freaked out when they were delivered the script; although she had no proof besides word-of-mouth. She was pleasantly surprised when the crew of _Parents and Children _reworked their schedule so she was able to fly to LA for the filming of "The Madonna Episode."

In an interview with Michael Ausiello, Cory explained that when he got the script for the single-artist episode, he flipped out. The cast was not allowed to tell anyone whom it was and she made it clear to the press that they would just have to wait to find out during February sweeps.

* * *

It's become pretty common for press to ask him about _Glee_ when they come to the set of _the Sands_. He's fine with it, but he doesn't want the show he acts on to get lost either.

"So I keep hearing that the single artist episode is pretty epic," the reporter pesters.

"It pretty amazing," he agrees.

"Any chance you can tell us about it?"

"Well, I can tell you that Rachel and I wrote this episode and its probably the most personal episode to us that we've done so far," he explains without giving too much away.

"Are you gonna tell us who the artist is?"

"Never!" he jokes. The reporter looks annoyed and moves in to ask Kiernan about the cute boy playing her boyfriend this season.

He knows all the adorable kids in the cast (who are like all nearly the same age as him) are having a big viewing party at Kevin and Jenna's house for the Madonna episode. He's invited, but he's not really interested in going. He really doesn't want to see them all become sloppy messes. (They should really write an episode depicting that, though.)

He decides instead to hop a redeye and head to Manhattan.

He feels _her_. The theter. And he knows she can feel it too.

She's in her pajamas when she opens the door – a really cute pair that are demure, but kinda sexy at the same time.

"What are you doing here?"

"I requested a couple days off work. I thought I should watch this with you." He doesn't have the heart to tell her Kiernan requested this week off as well.

She pulls him into a long hug. The pint of tofu ice cream in her hand feels cold against his back.

Halfway though, Rachel officially can't keep her emotions in check. He looks at her and she has tears in her eyes. She looks gorgeous. Stunning. Perfect. He tells her so.

"Don't be ridiculous, Finn," she criticizes his complement.

"I'm serious." He was.

He tenderly takes her head in his hands and forces her to look up at him. He kisses her gently. Their lips barely touch. "I love you," he murmurs softly.

Wiping the tears from her eyes while caressing her cheek, she replies. "I love you, too."

"Rachel, one day, one day really soon, we're gonna get married. We will be together forever. I promise." The words come out of his mouth before he can mentally dispute saying them. His heart's pounding. He can't believe he said something that sappy. He also can't believe that he admitted that at all.

"I know," she replies like Han Solo. Which is, like, totally badass by the way.

"Would you marry me, if I asked you again?"

"Of course!" she doesn't even hesitate. Doesn't even flinch.

He kisses her hard.

He stays with her for the rest of the week until he has to catch the redeye on Saturday night. It was the best (near) week of his life. He wasn't sure what was going to happen in the immediate future, but he knew soon he was gonna have a happy ending.

And he couldn't complain about that.

* * *

**A/N:** I just want to thank-you again for reading this crazy story. I really hope you enjoyed it and I would so much appreciate any feedback you can give about it. Please, please, please review. (It's really easy now that you can just type it in the box below…) I really liked writing this story that has been floating around my head onto 'paper' and I hope you found it a good read.


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